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HUMAN DESTINY 
IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 



HUMAN DESTINY 



IN THE 



LIGHT OF REVELATION 



BY 




JOHN FKWEIR, M. A 



PROFESSOR IN YALE UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR OF 

" THE WAY : THE NATURE AND 

MEANS OF REVELATION." 




J ' J 1 3 ' 3 > , , ' 



BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

1903 






THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

FEB 19 1903 

0-, Copyright Entry 

CUSS 0^ XXc. No. 

SI I '1 ^ 
COPY B, 



COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY JOHN F. WEIR 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



Published February^ igoj 



PREFACE 

The teaching of Revelation concerning 
man's ultimate destiny is not vague or in- 
conclusive, though it has sometimes been 
made to appear so through metaphysical 
interpretations ; systems of thought have 
arisen by this means which from time to 
time have been accorded a certain sanction 
or authority. But it is now widely recog- 
nized that such systems of metaphysical 
definition cannot be final as statements of 
truth, since they must ever be subject to 
critical revision with the progress of mind ; 
the changes or modifications to which they 
have been subject in the past are an indica- 
tion of what must follow in the future as 
truth is gradually freed from error. 

Some recent attempts have been made to 
forecast the destiny of man by the light of 
modern science, and in this light it may 



vi PREFACE 

perhaps be possible to form a reasonable, 
though necessarily vague, conjecture as to 
what may be the nature of that perfected 
earthly state of man toward which all the 
higher activities of the present life appear 
gradually to tend. But of that ultimate 
destiny of the human soul which lies be- 
yond the horizon of this world. Science 
supplies no data whatever upon which a 
conclusion may rest ; concerning that which 
transcends the boundaries of the earthly 
life Revelation alone supplies the key. It 
has been the aim in this treatise, therefore, 
to adhere strictly to the teaching of those 
original scriptures which affirm a revelation 
of human destiny by "the word of pro- 
phecy " and as manifested in the person of 
"Jesus, the Christ.'* 

I am not aware that this exclusive aim, 
of ascertaining the destiny of man by the 
light of Revelation, has hitherto been at- 
tempted, except incidentally, with reference 
to some less single purpose and in a frag- 
mentary form. The prophecies bearing on 



PREFACE vii 

this subject have had a profound signifi- 
cance for devout minds in all ages, but the 
teaching of the scriptures with reference 
to man's moral redemption has had a ten- 
dency to place the revelation of his ultimate 
spiritual future in a remote and shadowy 
background. 

While a release from the conditions of 
sin is the first and most pressing need in 
the life of the individual, the supreme note 
of joy which finds emphasis in the scrip- 
tures is based upon the revelation of " Life 
and Immortality," including the manifesta- 
tion of this in its ultimate form in the per- 
son of the Messiah. Few, comparatively, 
realize how full and complete and perfect 
is the revelation of human destiny. Many 
imagine that the knowledge of this is with- 
held from man ; that nothing is known, or 
can be known, of man's ultimate future; 
while some would affirm that a veil should 
be drawn over that future lest the activities 
of the present be hindered by the contem- 
plation of that which apparently is remote 
and unsubstantial. 



viii PREFACE 

But Revelation presents another view : it 
emphasizes the fact that the knowledge of 
human destiny, once realized in the con- 
sciousness, is a potent influence affecting 
the life and thought of man, transfiguring 
the darkest features of the present and 
stimulating aspiration and joy. From the 
earliest (Gen. xvii : 1-5) to the latest pro- 
phecies (Rev. xxi : 1-8), it appears to be the 
aim of Revelation to bring to the human 
consciousness a full knowledge of the divine 
purpose and ultimate end in the creation of 
man, and to make this knowledge a reward 
of faith and a means of drawing the human 
soul onward and upward to the fulfillment 
of its destiny. 

The advanced thought of the time, in 
many converging lines, is earnestly seeking 
light on the nature and destiny of man by 
the aid and methods of modern Science; 
this gives to the study of Revelation, in 
this connection, a peculiar interest and sig- 
nificance, which it has been the aim of this 
treatise to present. And as no one order 



PREFACE ix 

of truth stands unrelated to other forms of 
knowledge in the human mind, Nature and 
Spirit have been discriminated in Part L, in 
the light of Science and Revelation, as an 
introduction to Part II., which treats ex- 
clusively of the Destiny of man as revealed 
in Christ. When the reader reflects upon 
the vastness of the theme and the extent 
of the ground traversed, he will apprehend 
that only an outline was possible within the 
limits of one small volume ; but with this 
outline in mind the study of Revelation 
will disclose with far greater fullness the 
truths emphasized in this brief statement. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PART I. NATURE AND SPIRIT . . i 

Science and Revelation ; Nature and the 
Supra'VizXMX2\ ; The Creation of Man ; The 
Order of Creation ; Temporal and Eternal 
Life ; The Symbols of Genesis ; The Cos- 
mogony of Genesis ; The Process of Form- 
ing Man ; Man's Natural Ascent ; The 
Travail of Nature ; The Edenic Man ; 
Moral and Spiritual States ; The Spirit im- 
parted to Man; Activities of Nature and 
Spirit. 

PART II. THE DESTINY OF MAN 
AS REVEALED IN CHRIST ... 89 
What is Man t The Son of Man; The Mes- 
siah ; Perfect Man ; The Son of Man in 
Heaven ; The Man, Christ Jesus ; The 
World to come ; The Spirit of Jesus ; Then 
cometh the End ; A Little Lower than God ; 
The Faith of God ; With Thine Own Self; 
We shall be Like Him. 

CONCLUSION 180 



PART I 

NATURE AND SPIRIT 



** Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I 
say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot 
see the kingdom of God. . . . That which is born of the 
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is 
spirit." — John iii : 3-6. 

" The first man Adam became a living soul. The last 
Adam became a live-giving spirit. Howbeit that is not 
first which is spiritual, but that which is natural ; then 
that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, 
earthy : the second man is of heaven." — i Corinthians 
XV : 45-47. • (R. V.) 



NATURE AND SPIRIT 

SCIENCE AND REVELATION 
I 

It is affirmed as a fundamental truth of 
Revelation that God is spiritual or supra- 
natural Being, that he is over all his works, 
and that he has variously revealed himself 
to man, but more specifically through what 
is designated his " word." It may likewise 
be affirmed as a fundamental premise that 
spiritual or ^///r^-natural Being, to be known 
as such, must be supernaturally revealed ; 
not necessarily in the form of miracle, so- 
called, but through the manifestation of that 
which constitutes the ^?//m-natural princi- 
ple or *^ substance '' of that Being — which 
the scripture affirms is '' Spirit." ^ A "mani- 

1 John iv : 24. (R. V., margin.) 



4 HUMAN DESTINY 

festation of the Spirit"^ is therefore the 
self-revelation of God, — the disclosure of 
that which is above or behind Nature. 

II 

The discoveries of Science and the course 
of human events are sometimes designated 
'* revelations/' the term being freely applied 
to whatever pertains to human enlighten- 
ment ; but in its scriptural sense this term 
has a more restricted meaning as implied in 
the words : " God, who at sundry times and 
in divers manners spake in time past unto 
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these 
last days spoken unto us by his Son."^ 

Likewise the term ** Science " may signify 
all that pertains to exact knowledge, of 
whatever kind ; but as commonly understood 
it refers more specifically to the knowledge 
of Nature, and it is in this sense that the 
term will be used in this treatise. Science 
and Revelation therefore, as these terms are 
herein used, have a distinction in their 

1 I Cor. xii : 7. 2 Heb. i : 12. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 5 

methods and aims which it may be well to 
define as a premise. Science- may direct 
the astronomer to point his telescope to a 
quarter of the heaven where a hitherto un- 
known planet will become visible at a speci- 
fied time. The certainty of the fulfillment 
of this prediction is due to the fact that the 
presence of such an unseen body has been 
ascertained through certain disturbances 
observed in the movement of some known 
body, the cause of which has been mathe- 
matically determined. This is not properly 
a revelation, but a discovery ; and it is im- 
portant to mark the distinction between the 
enlightenment that is due to the observation 
of Nature, and the enlightenment derived 
through a revelation of the Spirit.^ 

Ill 

For Revelation, in the scriptural sense, 
implies an order of enlightenment differing 
from the common, as manifested in "the 
sure word of prophecy,'* of which^ means 

1 Gal. i : II, 12. 



6 HUMAN DESTINY 

the scripture affirms that ''no prophecy 
ever came by the will of man, but men 
spake from God, being moved by the Holy 
Ghost." 1 

As thus defined the enlightenment de- 
rived through Revelation differs from the 
acquisitions of Science according to the dis- 
tinctions in their respective sources of light. 
Jesus said, " The word which ye hear is not 
mine, but the Father's who sent me." ^ . . . 
"The words that I speak unto you, they 
are Spirit, and they are life." ^ This dis- 
tinction is further emphasized by the apos- 
tle Paul as follows : '* My speech and my 
teaching," he said, " was not with enticing 
words of man's wisdom, but in demonstra- 
tion of the Spirit and of power : that your 
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, 
but in the power of God. . . . We speak the 
wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hid- 
den wisdom, which God ordained before the 
world unto our glory ; which, none of the 

1 2 Peter i : 19-21. (R. V.) 2 John xiv : 24. ( R. V.) 
3 John vi : 6^' 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 7 

princes of this world knew''^ — or, which 
was unknown to the philosophies of man. ^ 
Thus the wisdom acquired in the course 
of Nature the apostle designates "man's 
wisdom,'* by virtue of its being an acquisi- 
tion of the human mind through the use 
of man's intellect ; but *' a demonstration 
of the Spirit and of power*' he designates 
" the wisdom of God." ^ 

In the light of the knowledge that all 
things are fundamentally of divine origin, 
the wisdom derivable from Nature is like- 
wise the wisdom of God — but in a secon- 
dary sense. For Nature is an organic ex- 
pression of the mind of a Creator ; man's 
last discovery through the observation of 
Nature is natural law. The wisdom deriv- 
able from Nature is therefore a result of 
the mediation of natural law, and natural 
law differs from "a demonstration of the 

1 I Cor. ii : 4-8. 

2 Matt, xiii : 35 ; Rom. xvi : 25, 26. 

3 I Cor. i : 23, 24. 



8 HUMAN DESTINY 

Spirit '' as the creation differs from its 
originating and sustaining Cause. For the 
laws of Nature are not more truly God than 
are the products of these laws : they do not 
reveal " the Spirit of God " in a primary 
sense, as God is revealed in " his word " or 
in '' his Christ/' While, therefore, a crea- 
tor and sustainer of the universe may be 
inferred from the observation of Nature, 
even to "his eternal power and Godhead," ^ 
as the maker of all things, God is known 
as to his spiritual Fatherhood by Reve- 
lation ; for in " a demonstration of the 
Spirit '' 2 God himself is present in the 
manifestation in a primary sense. Thus 
are Science and Revelation clearly distin- 
guishable as of two orders of "wisdom,'' 
proceeding respectively from Nature and 
Spirit. 

V 

Revelation affirms that " God is Spirit ; " ^ 
and as already stated Spirit is supra-natursl, 

1 Rom. i : 20. ^ i Cor. ii : 4. 

3 John iv : 24. (R. V., margin.) 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 9 

— above or behind Nature. The most an- 
cient symbol of Revelation affirms figura- 
tively that " the Spirit of God moved " in 
originating a creative act ; ^ then followed, 
in the light of Science, an order of Nature 
through which were formed the universe 
and man. 

For Science has already demonstrated 
the truth that creation is by natural law ; 
and while this '' order of Nature/' so- 
called, proceeds forth from God — of whom, 
through whom, and to whom are all things ^ 

— the originating cause, or divine imma- 
nence, which is Spirit, is not discernible in 
Nature as to his essential Being. It is an 
ancient question, " Canst thou by searching 
find out God } '' ^ The most acute scientific 
scrutiny fails to discover anything back of 
natural law, though it belongs to the neces- 
sities of human thought to infer an intelli- 
gent First Cause. 

In the last analysis, therefore. Science 
resolves the order of Nature into a system of 

1 Gen. i : I, 2. 2 Rom. xi : 36. ^ Job xi : 7. 



10 HUMAN t)ESTINY 

laws, a correlation of forces — impersonal, 
comprehensive, immutable — which form, 
differentiate, and apparently explain all nat- 
ural phenomena of the physical and mental 
realms. The existence of the s^ipra-naXural, 
therefore, is not demonstrable by Science, 
but through a revelation of the Spirit ; ^ and 
in a revelation of the Spirit, God himself, 
who alone is supra-naXixYsly breaks forth,^ 
as it were, through his creation and is mani- 
fested in and through the soul of man, the 
scripture affirming that " the tabernacle of 
God is with men/' ^ 

1 I Cor. ii : 4, 5. 2 Exod. xix .-22. ^ Rgy, xxi : 3. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION ii 



NATURE AND THE SUPRA- 
NATURAL 

I 

A '' demonstration of the Spirit '' is there- 
fore the self-revelation of God, in and 
through the soul of man. But so long as 
man is wholly of the order of Nature, the 
scripture affirms he is incapable of discern- 
ing "the things of the Spirit of God."^ 
The apostle Paul says, " The natural man re- 
ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : 
for they are foolishness unto him ; neither 
can he know them, because they are spirit- 
ually discerned.'* ^ And it is a fundamental 
teaching of Christ's gospel that *' Except 
a man be born again, he cannot see the 
kingdom of God. . . . Except a man be 
bom ... of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
the kingdom of God." ^ For Nature is ap- 

1 I Cor. ii: II. 2 j Qqy, ii : 14. 

3 John iii : 3-10. 



12 HUMAN DESTINY 

prehended by that which is natural, and 
Spirit is apprehended by that which is 
spiritual ; like discerns like. That which 
is born in the order of Nature is natural, 
and that which is "born of the Spirit " is 
spiritual or divine.^ Therefore Jesus said, 
" Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must 
be born again/' ^ 

For as formed in the order of Nature 
man is a " creature ; '* ^ the scripture says 
he is made of the elements of the earth : ^ 
and it is likewise affirmed that this crea- 
tion is not consummated^ in man until he 
is endowed with the Spirit, or " born of 
God." 6 

This teaching of Christ and his apostle, 
through the distinctions and issues that 
flow thence, will be found to be funda- 
mental in the revelation of human des- 
tiny. 

1 John iii : 6. ^ John iii : 7. 

3 Rom. viii : 19. ^ Gen. ii : 7. 

^ Rom. viii: ii. ^ i John iv : 7-9. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 13 

II 

If man received this spiritual endowment 
in the course of Nature it would have been 
needless to say that he "must be born 
again/' that he must be "born of the 
Spirit/' The teaching of Jesus likewise 
has reference to the freedom of the indi- 
vidual human will to accept or reject this 
"gift of God." ^ Except a man (the indi- 
vidual soul) be born of the Spirit, he can- 
not "see/' or "enter/' the kingdom of God. 

For "the kingdom of God" is a spirit- 
ual as distinguished from a natural realm, 
wherein "the things pertaining to God" 
are spiritually discerned, without a veiling.^ 
The scripture affirms that it is not until 
man is " born of the Spirit " that he is 
" born of God," or becomes a son of God : 
" As many as received him, to them gave 
he power to become the sons of God ; even 
to them that believe on his name : which 
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of 

1 John iv : 10 ; Rom. vi : 23. ^2 Cor. iii ; 14-16. 



14 HUMAN DESTINY 

the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 
God." ^ 

While, therefore, in the order of Nature, 
and by the light of Science, man may 
vaguely discern a divinity in an inferred 
first cause, or in a power which upholds 
the universe, God is known as to his spirit- 
ual Fatherhood through some other form of 
knowledge. Jesus said, " No man knoweth 
the Son, but the Father ; neither knoweth 
any man the Father, save the Son, and he 
to whomsoever the Son will reveal him : '' ^ 
and " no man cometh unto the Father, but 
by me.'' ^ 

III 

The revelation of God as Spirit is there- 
fore in a sense distinct from his revelation 
in Nature as the creator and sustainer of 
the universe. And in order that man may 
discern *' the things of the Spirit of God '' ^ 
the scripture affirms he '' must be born 

1 John i : 13. 2 ]yxatt. xi : 27. 

8 John xiv : 6. * i Cor. ii : 14. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 15 

anew." ^ To them that were entering upon 
this divine inheritance the scripture says, 
emphasizing a distinction of the spiritual 
and the natural in the order of the soul's 
life, ''The things of God none knoweth, 
save the Spirit of God. But we received, not 
the spirit of the world, but the spirit which 
is of God ; that we might know the things 
that are freely given to us by God. Which 
things also we speak, not in words which 
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit 
teacheth ; comparing spiritual things with 
spiritual." 2 

In the light of this teaching the enlight- 
enment that comes of Nature and the en- 
lightenment which comes of Spirit are in a 
sense distinct. One order of wisdom re- 
lates to that which is created, formed, made, 
and to the mind thence derived ; while the 
other relates to God himself, or to that 
which is "begotten of God." They who 
are born of the Spirit are said to be '' taught 

1 John iii : 7. (R. V.) 

2 I Cor. ii:ii-i3. (R. V.) 



i6 HUMAN DESTINY 

of God ; " ^ for when man has become spir- 
itual-minded ^ God then guides and counsels 
man Spirit to spirit, by an inward com- 
munion that is spiritual or divine.^ When 
one of the disciples of Jesus first manifested 
this spiritual enlightenment the Master said, 
'* Blessed art thou . . . for flesh and blood 
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my 
Father which is in heaven/' * The disciple 
was blessed because of his spiritual discern- 
ment as well as in the special revelation that 
was made to him. And it is upon this spir- 
itual order of apprehension, through the 

1 John vi : 45. ^ Rom. viii : 6-1 1. 

3 Faculties are developed and various orders of mind 
formed according to the nature of the sustained impulse 
given to thought through observation and reflection. 
The " natural mind " is formed through the observation 
of natural things, and to the extent of its knowledge its 
accretions constitute an image of the natural virorld. In 
like manner, vv^hen inspired by the Spirit, a distinct 
order of observation and reflection, pertaining to spir- 
itual things, forms the spiritual mind, or "man:" and 
these two orders of mind differ according to the distinc- 
tions existing in their objects of thought. 

* Matt, xvi : 17. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 17 

birth of a spiritual consciousness in man, 
that Christ declared he would build his 
church^ or found his ** kingdom," — a king- 
dom of the Spirit, *'the kingdom of God." 

1 Matt, xvi : 18. 



i8 HUMAN DESTINY 



THE CREATION OF MAN 

I 

But while " the natural man," or natural 
mind — by which is meant the mind that is 
formed exclusively in the order of Nature 
— as the scripture says, "receiveth not the 
things of the Spirit of God,"^ it has its own 
proper function to exercise in the discern- 
ment of that which is natural. When it is 
affirmed in the parable that " the children 
of this world are in their generation wiser 
than the children of light,'' ^ a general truth 
is implied ; namely, that wisdom on any 
given plane has reference to the things per- 
taining to that plane ; and while Nature 
is apprehended naturally. Spirit is appre- 
hended spiritually, — like discerns like : 
therefore the scripture says spiritual things 
are '^spiritually discerned/'^ 

1 I Cor. ii : 14. ^ Luke xvi: 8. 

3 I Cor. ii: 14. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 19 

That which engaged the mind of Newton 
in his Prmcipia and that which filled the 
mind of Paul in his Epistles are not of one 
and the same order of truth, though funda- 
mentally both orders of truth are alike of 
divine origin. But the truths of Nature 
and the truths of Spirit are, respectively, 
with reference to natural and spiritual 
realms. Science is now affirming ** the 
unity of Nature," while Revelation affirms 
"the unity of the Spirit ; " ^ and these uni- 
ties agree in one only in the end and con- 
summation of human destiny, when God will 
be "all in all." 2 

II 

In so far, therefore, as Nature has minis- 
tered to the creation of man Science is the 
interpreter of the process, and Science is 
gradually explaining this order of creation 
through the discovery of natural law. As 
thus explained — in so far as the scientific 
mind is warranted in forming a conclusion 

1 Eph. iv : 3, 4 ; i Cor. vi ; 17. 2 j Cor. xv : 28. 



20 HUMAN DESTINY 

from the ascertained facts — man is an 
organic creature "formed" through evolu- 
tion and development. Science, as already- 
affirmed, is only cognizant of that which is 
natural — the j-^//r^-natural ** Spirit " is not 
included in her categories. Every form and 
function of the human organism, apparently 
every faculty of mind — as the forming of 
these in the order of Nature is gradually 
reduced to knowledge — attests man's re- 
lationship to subordinate organisms, and 
these in turn to lower or more rudimentary 
forms of life. For in the light of Science 
an order is found to prevail throughout Na- 
ture which links the latest developments 
with the initial stages of creation, and the 
forming of "man'' apparently is included 
in this order. Though Science has by no 
means solved the problem of man's ascent 
in the order of Nature, the results of mod- 
ern research already suggest the inference 
that natural law preserves an unbroken 
order, or chain of sequence, which con- 
nects the latest with the earliest stages of 
creation. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 21 

III 

Through the discrimination of genera and 
species, through the development of facul- 
ties and functions, there seems to have been, 
in the light of Science, a gradual rising from 
simpler to more complex organisms, from 
lower to higher forms of life, until in " man " 
the physical organism apparently reached 
its final stage of development. Thence on 
there follows an evolution of the mind and 
the moral sense which differentiates ** man '* 
from all subordinate, antecedent forms of 
life, and apparently has no bounds of limi- 
tation. As the struggle between the vari- 
ous races of man becomes more and more 
dependent upon intellectual and moral quali- 
ties, the dominance of physical force gradu- 
ally yields, though with exceeding slowness, 
to these higher powers pertaining to the 
soul. Hence when the physical organism 
attained its final development in man, the 
evolution of his psychic powers, as expressed 
in mind, continued on independent of any 



22 HUMAN DESTINY 

further change of the bodily form ; for there 
is **no indication that Nature tends to the 
production of any higher organism than 
that of man." While, therefore, in all living 
creatures subordinate to man the physical 
organism appears to have set a limit to their 
psychic development, — as determined by 
their mental range or intelligence, — when 
the human stage was reached, thence on 
there followed a seemingly independent evo- 
lution of the mind and the moral sense, 
which became a distinguishing human char- 
acteristic, separating man, through these 
higher attributes of the soul, from all that 
subordinate creation which Revelation figu- 
ratively designates in its totality "the dust 
of the ground,'* of which the scripture 
affirms "man is made."^ 

1 Gen. ii : 7. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 23 



THE ORDER OF CREATION 



Thus the results of modern scientific re- 
search appear to agree with this symbol of 
Revelation as to man's origin and natural 
descent, or with respect to the forming of 
his natural mind and organism. The pro- 
cess of man's creation in the order of Na- 
ture is gradually being explained through 
the discovery of natural laws ; which nat- 
ural agencies Revelation symbolizes by the 
anthropomorphic figure, '' the work of mine 
hands " ^ — the laws of Nature being re- 
garded as an instrumentality. 

Revelation, having another end in view 
than that of supernaturally informing man 
with reference to the natural history of 
creation, merely outlines this figuratively, 
in a few far-reaching all-inclusive symbols, 
in Genesis, as a foundation upon which 

1 Isa. xxix : 23. 



24 HUMAN DESTINY 

it was divinely purposed '*in the fulness 
of time '* ^ — as discerned in the light of 
the New Testament — to base a revelation 
of the Spirit through Jesus Christ,^ when 
man was qualified to receive this divine 
gift. 

The " Spirit of prophecy '* reveals no- 
thing which man may discover of himself 
by the use of his intellect, for it is by 
searching out the truths of Nature, in the 
widest sense, that man's intellect is formed ; 
and to supernaturally reveal this natural 
order of truth would have an injurious effect 
upon the human mind by depriving it of a 
proper exercise of its own natural faculties 
in their development. The reference Reve- 
lation makes to the order of a natural crea- 
tion is therefore merely a figurative or 
symbolic outline, indicating the divine im- 
manence in the creative act, with special 
reference to what was to follow when " the 
divine nature *' ^ should be imparted to man 
through Jesus Christ. 

1 Gal. iv : 4. 2 Rom. xvi : 25. ^2 Peter i : 4. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 25 

II 

By the light of Science the inference may 
now be drawn that all the activities of Na- 
ture tended from the beginning toward that 
final consummation which is expressed in 
"man;" anti the scripture intimates as 
much when it affirms that a *' Saviour of 
men '' was *' foreordained before the founda- 
tion of the world/' ^ In the light of this 
revelation the divine purpose is made known 
from the beginning ; namely, that the crea- 
tion and salvation of *'man'' was in mind 
before this world came into existence. 

The scripture figuratively affirms that it 
was not until "man was made" that the 
divinity " breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life, and man became a living 
soul." 2 Referring to the " natural man " as 
distinguished from that spiritual manhood 
revealed in Christ, the apostle Paul says : 
" The first man Adam became a living soul ; 
the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 

1 I Peter i : 20. 2 Qen. ii : 7. 



26 HUMAN DESTINY 

Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, 
but that which is natural ; then that which 
is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, 
earthy : the second man is of heaven. . . . 
And as we have borne the image of the 
earthy, we shall also bear the image of 
the heavenly.'^ ^ By his use of the present 
tense — "the first man is," etc. — the apos- 
tle implies that this order of creation is 
common to all men ; " first the natural ; 
afterward, then that which is spiritual.'' ^ 

For the making of man, in the light of 
this teaching, was not an act consummated 
in a remote past, but is still in process in 
the life of the individual, as implied in the 
words of Christ, " My Father worketh 
hitherto, and I work."^ . . . ''My meat is 
to do the will of him that sent me, and to 
finish his work/'* For it is through Christ 
that the Father imparts his own Spirit in- 
dividually to man, that man may become 
'' a living soul " ^ — that is, a soul quickened 

1 I Cor. XV : 45-49. (R. V.) 2 a. V. 

2 John V : 17. ^ John iv : 34. ^ Gen. ii : 7. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 27 

by the indwelling " Spirit of God ; " and the 
sign of the consummation of this divine act 
in the creation of man was when the risen 
Christ breathed on his disciples and said, 
^* Receive ye the Holy Spirit''^ — a sym- 
bol, or sign, of that subconscious spiritual 
experience which is common to his follow- 
ers through all time. 

1 John XX : 22. 



28 HUMAN DESTINY 



TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL LIFE 



In its ever-widening sphere of knowledge 
Science indicates a gradual advance in hu- 
man progress in the earthly life — morally, 
intellectually, and materially ; but concern- 
ing that ultimate destiny of the human soul 
which transcends this present stage of life. 
Science is necessarily silent, for Nature 
holds no revelation of this. In the light 
of Nature the individual man seemingly 
emerges into existence at his birth and 
sinks into oblivion at his death — the mo- 
mentous question of his immortal future 
remaining unsolved. But by the revela- 
tion in Jesus Christ life and immortality 
are brought to light ^ in a comprehensive 
" demonstration " ^ of the truth by actual 
manifestation. This revelation in the Christ 

1 2 Tim. i : 10. ^ i Cor. ii : 4. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 29 

is supra-naXursl in one sense, by its '* reve- 
lation of the Spirit ; " ^ and /r<^/^r-natural 
in another sense, by its manifestation of 
"the Son of man in heaven ; " ^ in whom, 
the apostle Paul says, " dwelleth all the ful- 
ness of the Godhead, bodily " ^ — for where 
" man " is, in bodily form, there is neces- 
sarily a natural environment corresponding 
to that organism, however sublimated or 
spiritualized : " Nature " not as known to 
man in a physical world, but as known 
to the angels in heaven. 

II 

The scripture affirms, in substance, that 
the travail of the whole creation " in pain 
together," iii bringing forth man, was "until 
now," or until in the fulness of time " God 
sent forth his Son " into the world ^ to re- 
deem the human soul from that earthly 
environment incidental to its creation on 
the plane of Nature, and to reveal and im- 

1 I Cor. xii : 7. 2 John iii : 13. 

3 Col. ii : 9. * Gal. iv. 3-5 



30 HUMAN DESTINY 

f 
part the Spirit to man. Concerning this 

travail of 'Hhe whole creation/' when com- 
pared with that destiny which is reserved 
for man, the apostle Paul says, "I reckon 
that the sufferings of this present time are 
not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be revealed in us : for the ear- 
nest expectation of the creature waiteth for 
the manifestation of the sons of God/' ^ 
Hereby a distinction is clearly drawn be- 
tween " the creature '' — the man that is 
made — and man when he is '* born of God/' 
And there is added this further revelation : 
" The creature itself also shall be delivered 
from the bondage of corruption into the 
glorious liberty of the children of God. 
For we know that the whole creation groan- 
eth and travaileth in pain together until 
now. And not only they, but we ourselves 
which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, 
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, 
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemp- 
tion of the body." ^ 

1 Rom. viii: t8, 19. ^ Rom. viii : 21-23. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 31 

III 

For through the imparting of the divine 
Spirit to man, as outwardly symbolized by 
its descent upon Jesus "like a dove/' ^ that 
which was created in the order of Nature 
is eventually merged, " by adoption," ^ into 
that divine sonship which is spiritual and 
eternal. In the light of Revelation, there- 
fore, it is plain that man was not created 
a child of God in the order of Nature ; for 
it is said that ** the creature waiteth for the 
manifestation of the sons of God " — that 
is, for that new birth, " of the Spirit,'' which 
implants in man *' the divine nature ; " ^ or, 
as it is figuratively expressed in Genesis, 
when the Deity " breathed into man the 
breath of life." It is not until man is mor- 
ally prepared that he is endowed with the 
divine Spirit and becomes a son of God. ^ 
For the apostle Paul speaks of those follow- 
ers of Christ who with him had *' received 

1 John i : 32. 2 Rom. viii : 23. 

^ 2 Peter i : 4. * John i: 12. 



32 HUMAN DESTINY 

the first-fruits of the Spirit/' as waiting for 
this imparted Spirit to redeem the whole 
"creature/' body and mind — to bring the 
whole "natural man" "into the glorious 
liberty of the children of God/' 

IV 

It is through the presence of that in- 
dwelling Spirit imparted from the Father 
— prophetically symbolized by the Crea- 
tor's "breathing into man the breath of 
life " ^ — that man is spiritually conformed 
to the "image" and "likeness" of God^ 
when made a partaker of the divine na- 
ture.^ Whether, therefore, "perfect man/' 
made "in the image" and "likeness of 
God," is discernible in " the Adam " of the 
Edenic symbol, or in Jesus, the Christ, is 
according to a literal or a spiritual read- 
ing of the scripture — as to whether that 
ancient symbol refers to a special historic 
progenitor of the human family of this 

1 Gen. ii : 7. 2 Qgn. i : 26. 

3 2 Peter i : 4. (R. V.) 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 33 

earth, or to the genus Jiovio, filling all 
worlds and '' the heaven of heavens " — of 
whom the sole perfect type known to this 
earthly family of man is he who designated 
himself " the Son of man which is in 
heaven." ^ 

1 John iii : 13. 



34 HUMAN DESTINY 



THE SYMBOLS OF GENESIS 



Read in the light of the New Testa- 
ment, a key to the general trend of Reve- 
lation may be found in the symbols of 
Genesis. Prophecy employs parables and 
symbolic figures to express spiritual or 
divine truths ; through these simple and 
familiar forms, pertaining to the mind of 
the time, the Spirit prophesies in advance 
of man's natural understanding. Jehovah 
said, '* I have used similitudes by the minis- 
try of the prophets ; '' ^ and Jesus gave as 
a reason for his use of parable in speaking 
to " the multitude," " That seeing they 
shall see, and shall not perceive ; and hear- 
ing they shall hear, and shall not under- 
stand "2 — until by searching the word and 
pondering it in the heart the truth gradually 

1 Hos. xii : lo. ^ Matt, xiii : 14. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 35 

dawns in an awakened spiritual conscious- 
ness. The symbols of Genesis have there- 
fore a deeper spiritual significance than is 
usually accorded them in the light of Na- 
ture, wherein they are sometimes viewed 
as merely mythical fragments, or conjec- 
tures, expressive of the groping of the mind 
of the ancient world in its speculative search 
for the genesis of things. 

II 

Discerned in the light of the New Testa- 
ment, the two narratives of creation in- 
cluded in Genesis — known as the Elohist 
and the Jahvist narratives — are respec- 
tively symbols of spiritual and natural crea- 
tions. The first may be said to refer to 
what, in the language of Jesus, '^the Fa- 
ther himself doeth ; " and the second to 
what " the Son also doeth in like manner," ^ 
— for the scripture says, God " created all 
things by Jesus Christ." ^ The Elohist 
symbol, which refers to the work of *' God 

1 John V : 19. (R. V.) 2 gph. iii ; g. 



36 HUMAN DESTINY 

Almighty/'^ implies a perfected spiritual 
creation, not in time ; while the Jahvist 
symbol, which affirms the work of the 
"Lord God," refers to a creation in time, 
and in the order of Nature — a creation in 
which the natural man is " formed." 

Again, the Elohist symbol refers to a 
spiritual creation in which all things in their 
order are affirmed to be *' good : " " God 
(Elohim) said. Let us make man in our 
image, after our likeness ; and let them 
have dominion . . . over all the earth. So 
God created man in his own image, in the 
image of God created he him ; male and 
female created he them. . . . And God 
saw everything that he had made, and be- 
hold, it was very good. . . . Thus the 
heavens and the earth were finished, and all 
the host of them." ^ 

This symbol refers to a perfected crea- 
tion, and to perfect man — a creation con- 
summated in a spiritual realm, or " kingdom 
of God." It implies an eternal creation, 

^ Exod. vi : 3. ^ Gen. i : 26-ii : i. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 37 

not in time, for the " man '' referred to in 
the plural is celestial or perfect man, the 
geiiics Jiovio^ filling the *^ heaven of heavens " 
as sons of God : ^ of whom Jesus, the Christ, 
according to the scripture, is a representa- 
tive, — " one chosen out of the people." ^ 
For, as discerned in Christ, the Elohist crea- 
tion is a spiritual man, made in the '* image " 
and *' likeness" of God;^ "perfect man, of 
the measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ ; " ^ who himself is said to be *' in 
the form of God," ^ ** the very image of his 
substance " ^ — which the Elohist symbol 
likewise affirms of man ; namely, that he is 
made in the "image" and "likeness" of 

God. 

Ill 

But the figures of the Jahvist symbol im- 
ply another order of creation, in time, and 
in the order of Nature ; in other words, this 
symbol refers to the creation of the human 

1 Job xxxviii : 7. 

2 Psa. Ixxxix : 19-28; I Peter ii : 4. 

3 Gen. i ; 26. ^ Eph. iv : 13. ^ phil. ii: 6. 
6 Heb. i: 3; Col. i: 15. 



38 HUMAN DESTINY 

family of this earth on the plane of Nature ; 
and this, according to the apostle Paul, is 
an initial stage of creation, as implied in 
the words '^ first the natural ; '' afterward, 
*'then that which is spiritual ; the first man 
is of the earth, earthy ; the second man is 
of heaven. ... As we have borne the 
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the 
image of the heavenly.'' ^ 

The forming of man, according to the 
Jahvist symbol, is continued on throughout 
the Old Testament dispensation ; the record 
being first symbolical and then historical — 
from Abraham onward — until, under the 
New Testament dispensation, man is finally 
endowed with the Spirit through Jesus 
Christ, *^who breathed on them, and said, 
Receive ye the Holy Spirit." ^ 

This Jahvist, or natural creation, in time, 
is thus prefigured in Genesis : " These are 
the generations of the heavens and the earth 
when they were created, in the day that 
the Lord God (Jahveh) made the earth 

1 I Cor. XV : 46-49. (R. V.) 2 John xx : 22. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATIOxN 39 

and the heavens. . . . And the Lord God 
formed man of the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 
and man became a living soul : " ^ that is, a 
soul indwelt by the Spirit of God. 

The earthly, or ^' natural man," formed 
by Jahveh, Lord God, '' of the dust of the 
ground," is not affirmed to-be made in the 
image and likeness of God. For this pre- 
liminary forming of man in the order of 
Nature is what the apostle Paul designates 
" the creature ; " and the scripture says, 
" the first man Adam became a living soul ; 
the last Adam became a life-giving spirit." ^ 
This last is discerned in Christ, who is 
affirmed to be '' the first-fruits of them that 
slept," ^ "the firstborn among many breth- 
ren," * "the Adam" of a new or spiritual 
creation which ^ is consummated in a heav- 
enly realm, or "kingdom of God," wherein 
all things, according to the Elohist symbol, 
are affirmed to be " very good," and the 

1 Gen. ii : 4-7. 2 i Cor. xv : 45. (R. V.) 

3 I Cor. XV : 20. * Rom. viii : 29. 



40 HUMAN DESTINY 

whole creation and the '' hosts '' of heaven 
are pronounced ^* finished." 

IV 

Concerning these two orders of creation, 
the natural and the spiritual, the Old Tes- 
tament deals with the former and the New 
Testament with the latter — as foretold in 
the Apocalypse of **a new heaven and a 
new earth ; for the first heaven and the 
first earth were passed away/'^ And like- 
wise the New Testament treats of a " new 
man,'' 2 "born of the Spirit,''^ "born of 
God,''* of whom Jesus is affirmed to be 
"the first-begotten." s 

It is with the natural, or Jahvist creation, 
in time, that Science is concerned ; for in 
the Jahvist symbol it is said of man, " In 
the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, 
till thou return unto the ground ; for out of 
it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and 
unto dust shalt thou return." ^ 

1 Rev. xxi : i. 2 Col. iii : lo. 

^ John iii : 6. ^ i John iii : g ; iv : 7 ; v : 4. 

s Heb. i : 6. ^ Gen. iii : 19. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 41 

The Edenic man, according to the Jah- 
vist symbol, is therefore not a heavenly crea- 
tion ; the *' garden of delights '' does not 
symbolize heaven ; it is not a spiritual but 
a natural paradise, from the innocence of 
which man falls away in the order of his 
forming process, or for the implanting of a 
moral sense in him through the knowledge 
of good and evil : " And the Lord God said, 
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to 
know good and evil ; " ^ that is, the implant- 
ing of a moral principle in man through the 
knowledge of right and wrong made him 



godlike. 



V 



In the Elohist symbol " man " and 
"earth'' and "heaven" are terms used in 
a generic sense ; the " earth '' stands for 
the physical universe, "heaven" stands 
for the celestial "heaven of heavens," and 
"man'' stands for the genus homOy "per- 
fect man," as revealed in Christ. And 
these generic terms of the Elohist symbol 

1 Gen. iii : 22. 



42 HUMAN DESTINY 

stand for a perfected, or " finished/' crea- 
tion, coeternal with God ; " beginning " 
only in the sense that it eternally originates 
with God, but really, as a whole, without 
beginning and without ending ; for it is 
impossible to conceive of a time when the 
Eternal was inactive, or when his divine 
creations were not. 

But the Jahvist symbol refers to a spe- 
cial creative act begun and ending in time — 
a creation formed through one who termed 
himself "the Alpha and the Omega, the 
beginning and the ending " ^ — the Creator 
and Saviour of this special earthly family 
of man, Jesus Christ, by whom "the world 
was made." ^ 

1 Rev. i : 8. 2 John i : lo. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 43 



THE COSMOGONY OF GENESIS 



Modern science having enlarged man's 
conceptions, an eternal and universal cos- 
mic order may now be discerned as coinci- 
dent with the eternal and universal Being of 
God. And the cosmogony of Genesis, so 
far as this is expressed in time-symbols — 
or so far as a time-meaning may be applied 
to the phrase, " In the beginning" — refers 
to a special creative act in an eternal and 
universal cosmic order, to the creation of a 
special system of "worlds" which had its 
beginning and will have its ending in time, 
while the universe remains ; the whole sur- 
viving the decay of the parts, being eter- 
nally renewed by a ceaseless creation of 
new systems and new worlds which appear 
and disappear in a permanent cosmic order 
that is eternal with God. For this eternal 



44 HUMAN DESTINY 

and universal cosmic order, termed "Na- 
ture/' — the eternity of which, as will be 
shown in Part II, is revealed in " the Son 
of man in heaven/'^ — is coincident with 
the ceaseless revelation of the eternal and 
universal Being of God. 

II 

The words, ''In the beginning,'* there- 
fore, as employed in Genesis, do not refer 
to the origin of creative activity on the part 
of the Supreme Being — whose creative ac- 
tivity is coeternal with his own nature — but 
in the Elohist symbol this expression refers 
to the origin of all creative activity as cen- 
tred in ''the Spirit of God;" while in the 
Jahvist symbol the words, " These are the 
generations of the heavens and of the earth 
when they were created, in the day that the 
Lord God (Jahveh) made the earth and the 
heavens," ^ have reference to a special crea- 
tive act begun and ending in time. To 
suppose it otherwise in the light of modern 

1 Matt, xxiv : 30. 2 Q^n. ii : 4. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 45 

acquisitions would be like adhering to the 
. Ptolemaic theory of the universe after the 
conceptions of the mind had once been en- 
lightened by the discoveries of modern as- 
tronomy. For a time-thought is no more 
applicable to the origin of the cosmos, or to 
the origin of Nature, than it is applicable to 
the origin of the Godhead ; for to imagine 
a time when the divinity was inactive is as 
unreasonable as to imagine a time when 
eternity began. 



46 HUMAN DESTINY 



THE PROCESS OF FORMING MAN 

I 

That Science has wrested from Nature 
a momentous truth by the discovery of a 
general law of evolution affirming the unity 
of Nature, is apparent when its bearing on 
Revelation is discerned, disclosing as it does 
the process by which *'man is made of the 
dust of the ground " — as to his natural 
constitution and organic life. When the 
Jews boasted of their natural descent from 
Abraham, John the Baptist replied, '^ God 
is able of these stones to raise up children 
unto Abraham,'' ^ and Science is verifying 
the statement. 

For in the light of modern scientific dis- 
covery, as well as in the light of Revela- 
tion, man is formed of the elements of the 
earth. Up to the time of his receiving the 

1 Matt, iii : 9. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 47 

Spirit through Jesus Christ, man is a " crea- 
ture " formed in the order of Nature ; and 
as thus *' formed " he is related to a far- 
reaching series of antecedent life, the total- 
ity of which is symbolized in Genesis by 
the expression, man is **made of the dust 
of the ground." ^ 

II 

The distinction between that which is 
natural and that which is spiritual in man is 
a teaching of Christ's (concerning man's 
birth of the Spirit) which the apostle Paul 
elaborates as a fundamental truth in the 
revelation of human destiny. The scrip- 
tures refer to the whole ^* natural man," 
body and mind, as an '' earthen vessel ; " ^ 
and this figure is insisted on when it is 
affirmed by prophecy, with reference to a 
future pouring out of the Spirit ^ upon man, 
'* They shall be filled like bowls : " ^ while 
to this pouring out of the Spirit ''upon all 

1 Gen. ii : 7. ^2 Cor. iv : 7. 

3 Joel ii : 28; Acts ii : 17. * Zech. ix : 15. 



48 HUMAN DESTINY 

flesh '' the New Testament makes further 
reference as the fulfillment of that ancient 
prophecy through Jesus Christ.^ When, 
therefore, the scripture says, '' He remem- 
bereth that we are dust,'' ^ it is upon this 
earth-born creature, " the natural man," 
formed by the " hand " of God ^ — to use an 
anthropomorphic figure of speech — that 
the Eternal Father purposes to bestow his 
own Spirit when the individual human soul 
is morally prepared and man willingly opens 
his heart to receive the divine gift : " Fear 
not, Abraham : I am thy shield, and thy ex- 
ceeding great reward/' * God himself is 
the reward of the faithful ; for he purposes 
to impart his own Spirit to man, to make 
men ** partakers of the divine nature."^ 
And that ancient prophecy concerning the 
imparting of the Spirit to man, which God 
communicated to Abraham, was first ful- 
filled on this earth in Jesus Christ, and is 

1 Isa. xliv : 3 ; Joel ii : 28, 29 ; Acts ii : 17, 18. 

2 Psa. ciii : 14. ^ Isa : Ixiv : 8. 
4 Gen. XV : I. ^2 Peter i : 4. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 49 

being fulfilled in his followers through all 
time. 

But this imparted Spirit, with which man 
is endowed as a final act in his creation, 
always remains the Father's ; for it is writ- 
ten, "If God gather to himself his Spirit and 
his breath, all flesh shall perish together, 
and man shall turn again unto dust ; ''^ 
that is, to the state of that earth-born ^' crea- 
ture" which in its totality is so designated 
by Revelation. 2 

1 Job xxxiv : 14, 15. 2 pga. ciii : 14. 



so HUMAN DESTINY 



MAN^S NATURAL ASCENT. 

I 

The term '^ flesh," as used in the scrip- 
tures, stands for the whole "natural man," 
body and mind ; and the expression, " I 
will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh," ^ is 
the promise of that consummation of the 
divine purpose in creating man. This final 
act, as already stated, is accomplished 
through Jesus Christ, who is himself de- 
clared to be the *^ first-fruits," ^ ^^the first- 
begotten," ^ the " first-born among many 
brethren." * 

Jesus therefore but voices his own ex- 
perience when he says, "That which is 
born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is 
born of the Spirit is spirit."^ He thus re- 
fers to a divine order, in the creation of 
man, which is of a dual nature — to that 

1 Acts ii : 17. 2 I Qqy, xv : 20. ^ Heb. i : 6. 

* Rom. viii : 29. ^ John iii : 6. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 51 

which Science teaches is "formed" through 
natural law, and to that which Revelation 
affirms is '' born of God." For, in order 
that man may partake of '^the fruit of the 
Spirit"^ — or, as it is expressed in the sym- 
bol of Genesis and referred to again by the 
glorified Christ,^ in order that man may 
"eat of the fruit of the tree of life"^ — the 
scripture says he " must be born again," he 
must be "born of the Spirit," he must be 
" born of God." God is immanent in Na- 
ture in a creative sense, but not strictly in 
an indwelling sense ; of man alone is it 
affirmed that he is God's "temple," ^ or 
"tabernacle" — "a house not made with 
hands," destined to become "eternal in the 
heavens.!'^ 

II 

The term "flesh," therefore, in its larger 
sense, as employed in Revelation, signifies 
the whole earth-formed man, body and mind, 
the unquickened "natural man" in every 

1 Gal. V : 22. 2 Rev. ii : 7. ^ Gen. iii : 22. 

* I Cor. iii : 16. ^ 2 Cor. v : i. 



52 HUMAN DESTINY 

soul — all that is below the Spirit when im- 
parted from God. For in the flesh, and in 
the mind thereby formed, inheres all the in- 
stincts of Nature, and to the making of this 
marvelous organic ** creature " the whole 
earth has contributed. Flesh, in a physical 
sense, may be said to be the last and high- 
est organic form of ** matter," so-called, 
and is capable of manifesting mind as its 
perfect organ of expression. In the nour- 
ishment of physical life the vegetable feeds 
on the mineral, the animal on the vegetable, 
and finally the animal on the animal — and 
man is no exception. Through physical 
descent instincts and propensities are trans- 
mitted from generation to generation, and 
heredity implies that mental traits are like- 
wise so transmitted. Thus in ** the natural 
man '' in every human soul there inheres 
a persistent and seemingly indestructible 
deposit of all that antecedent life, with its 
instincts, aptitudes, passions, and propensi- 
ties, transmitted through physical and psy- 
chical descent in the forming of that or- 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 53 

ganic ''creature" which eventually became 
'' man ; " and thence on this is persistently 
transmitted in man, apparently without 
abatement — unless restrained by the moral 
sense — '' from generation to generation/' 
All that has been separately formed through 
subordinate organisms apparently is com- 
prised in the soul and organism of man ; 
thus man is capable of apprehending all of 
Nature, because all of Nature has been 
• employed in the creation of man. For 
Nature's method of building up organisms, 
of discriminating genera and species, of im- 
planting instincts, of developing faculties 
and forming *' mind," is all a process of 
making man ; " everything tended from the 
beginning to this end,'' and the man of this 
earth is still standing in the workshop a 
witness of the operation, which is still go- 
ing on. 

Ill 

For in the light of the general tendency 
of modern scientific discovery the forming 
of man appears to have involved a continu- 



54 HUMAN DESTINY 

ous and selective activity v^hich traversed 
the whole realm of Nature from the dawn 
of creation, through vast astronomical, geo- 
logical, and biological periods, until the end 
was attained and "man was made." And 
as an indication of the divine purpose that 
was behind this vast stretch of creative 
energy, the scripture affirms that Christ 
was " foreordained " to be the Saviour of 
men " before the foundation of the world." ^ 
That is, the prophecy implies that before 
the creation of this world was begun, the 
forming of "man" was the divine purpose, 
and Christ was " preordained " to redeem 
the human soul from its earthly environ- 
ment — or from the conditions incidental 
to its creation on the plane of Nature — 
and to endow it with that divine life of the 
Spirit through which man is brought into 
" fellowship " with God as a divine son.^ 
Christ delivers the created human soul 
from the " bondage " of that which is tem- 
poral by imparting to it that which is eter- 

1 I Peter i : 20. ^ i John i : 3. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 55 

nal, when that which was formed in Nature 
is '' born of God.'* 

To repeat, therefore : Christ was ordained 
to ** finish '' the Father's work ; Jesus said, 
" My meat is to do the will of him that sent 
me, and to finish his work ;'' ^ and to this 
end — for the consummation of the divine 
purpose in creating man — he likewise 

said, " My Father worketh hitherto, and 
I work." 2 

1 John iv : 34. 2 John v : 17. 



56 HUMAN DESTINY 



THE TRAVAIL OF NATURE 

I 

In view of that transcendent future re- 
served for man, as revealed in Christ — 
"of whose fulness," says the apostle, ''have 
all we received ''1 — it is important to know, 
by the light of both Science and Revela- 
tion, what it has cost to " form man of the 
dust of the ground/' That is, to use an 
anthropomorphic figure of speech, it is im- 
portant to know what infinite pains and 
patience have been bestowed upon the 
forming of an organic " creature " whose 
destiny it is, when quickened by the Spirit, 
to image the Deity and manifest forth the 
divine love and wisdom as witnessed in 
Christ. For that Christ's indwelling divine 
" fulness " is man's inheritance is clearly 
implied in the apostle's prayer, " That ye 
might be filled with all the fulness of 

1 John i : i6. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 57 

God ; " ^ and in the light of Christ's reve- 
lation of human destiny it is inconceivable 
that anything less than a far-reaching ante- 
cedent preparation — a process of creation 
exhausting all the resources of Nature so 
far as this world is concerned — would have 
sufficed to accomplish the fulfillment of so 
sublime an end ; namely, that of making 
man "in the image" and ** likeness" of 
God when he is grown to the fullness of the 
stature of that spiritual manhood revealed 
in Christ. 

II 

Nature and Spirit, therefore, as thus dis- 
criminated, do not reveal the same order 
of truth ; for Science is concerned with that 
which is temporal, while Revelation is con- 
cerned with that which is eternal. The 
distinction between the things which en- 
gage, respectively, the natural and spiritual 
perceptions in man is marked by the apostle 
Paul in these words : " We look not at the 

1 Eph. iii : 19. 



SS HUMAN DESTINY 

things which are seen, but at the things 
which are not seen ; for the things which 
are seen are temporal ; but the things 
which are not seen are eternal." ^ One 
order of truth has reference to a natural 
creation, while the other has reference to 
a spiritual consummation. The man that 
is formed exclusively in the course of Na- 
ture is but half made; whatever be his 
earthly attainments he is still far below 
the estate of " perfect man, of the measure 
of the stature of the fulness of Christ.'' ^ 
For Nature and Spirit are coordinated in 
"perfect man," in whom the human and 
the divine are in perfect ''agreement'' of 
will and life — in perfect "fellowship." 
But in the order of man's creation the 
natural precedes the spiritual, as affirmed 
by the scripture, " That is not first which 
is spiritual, but that which is natural ; then 
that which is spiritual." ^ " Perfect man," 
therefore, is not merely a perfected natural 

1 2 Cor. iv : i8. ^ Epj^^ [y . j-j. 

3 I Cor. XV : 46. (R. V.) 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 59 

creation, but that natural creation endowed 
with the Spirit of God/ with the '* ful- 
ness " and perfection that is manifested in 
Christ. 

Ill 

The symbols of Genesis and the experi- 
ence of the prophets indicate that previous 
to the coming of the Messiah — in whom 
" dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead, 
bodily " 2 — man was divinely approached 
through instrumentalities other than those 
pertaining to an inward spiritual conscious- 
ness. The ** ministry of angels '' and '* pro- 
phets" was in a degree exceptional and 
arbitrary, looking forward to the time when 
the Spirit should ^^no longer strive with 
man," ^ but be *' poured out upon all flesh ; " 
or when, by an interior means, the human 
and the divine would eventually come into 
perfect agreement of will and life and be 
in perfect " fellowship." As already stated, 

1 Gal. iii : 2, 3. 2 Col. ii : 9. (R. V.) 

^ Gen. vi : 3. 



6o HUMAN DESTINY 

Jesus was the first on this earth in whom 
this indwelling of the Father's Spirit was 
manifested ; and in him as " perfect man '* 
this indwelling Spirit is revealed in all its 
divine fullness and power. 

But Jesus is careful to discriminate that 
which "abode" in him^ from that which 
constitutes his own human propriiim ; for 
he said, "I can of mine own self do no- 
thing." ^ . . . "The words that I speak 
unto you, I speak not of myself : but the 
Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the 
works." ^ He thus distinguishes between 
his human egOy his "own self," and that 
indwelling Spirit, which is God ; and the 
scripture is careful not to confuse the two 
natures, the human and the divine. For 
however closely allied in Christ are these 
two natures, they nevertheless remain eter- 
nally distinct and separable, though coordi- 
nated in " perfect fellowship " in " perfect 
man." 

1 John i : 32. 2 John v : 30. ^ John xiv : 10. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 6i 

IV 

To those who antagonized his revelation 
of the Spirit Jesus said, '' Ye are from be- 
neath ; I am from above : ye are of this 
world ; I am not of this world." ^ Herein 
a distinction is clearly drawn between the 
earthly man and the heavenly: one is 
formed *'from beneath," and the other is 
**from above;" one is born of Nature, 
while the other is born of Spirit ; and Jesus 
marks the distinction with the precision of 
an axiom of Science. For in the order of 
creation the "natural man " ^ is the prelimi- 
nary work of Jahveh, " Lord God,", who is 
none other than the Son of God — "Before 
me there was no God formed ; " ^ while 
the " spiritual man " is the " finished " work 
of Eloi, "God Almighty,""^ who is desig- 
nated in the New Testament "the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." ^ 

Of the natural man the scripture says 

1 John viii : 23. 2 j Qq^^ jj . j^^ 3 jga. xliii : 10. 

* Exod. vi : 3. ^ Eph. i : 3. 



62 HUMAN DESTINY 

he is "of the earth, earthly, and speaketh 
of the earth ; " ^ that is, even his very 
thought is thence derived ; but when " born 
of the Spirit" man is *^ taught of God,"^ 
by a spiritual communion, and is become 
an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.^ 

1 John iii : 31. 2 John vi : 45. ^ Matt, xxv : 34. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 63 



THE EDENIC MAN 

In the order of man's creation, according 
to the Jahvist symbol, the Edenic state is 
representative of that unconscious inno- 
cence of the childhood of man, knowing not 
good or evil. "Eden," therefore, stands for 
that innocent but uninformed natural state 
of the soul before a moral sense has been 
implanted in man through ** the knowledge 
of good and evil." For it is through the 
knowledge of good and evil, or the sense of 
right and wrong, that man becomes a moral 
being ; then he becomes godlike : ** The 
Lord God said. Behold, the man is become 
as one of us, to know good and evil ; " ^ this 
was said of *^the Adam" in the Jahvist 
symbol, after he had '' eaten of the tree of 
the knowledge of good and evil." 

That innocent but negative Edenic state, 

1 Gen. iii : 22. 



64 HUMAN DESTINY 

therefore, in which every child coming into 
the world lingers until a perception of right 
and wrong is awakened through "the know- 
ledge of good and evil/' is not the state of 
"perfect man ;'' the perfect state is not re- 
vealed in the natural Adam, but in Christ,^ 
when the innocence of ignorance eventually 
is replaced by the purified conscious know- 
ledge of all things.^ For the man that is 
" made of the dust of the ground '* — the 
Edenic Adam — is empty of all that is char- 
acteristic of the man that is " born of God,'* 
as discerned in Christ. That heaven-born 
man, the scripture says, was made "per- 
fect through sufferings;''^ he "learned 
obedience by the things which he suffered ; 
and being made perfect, he became the au- 
thor of eternal salvation unto all them that 
obey him:"* who says to his brethren of 
this world, " To him that overcometh will I 
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as 

1 Eph. iv: 13. 2 I Qqy, \[: 10. 

3 Heb. ii : 10. * Heb. v : 9. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 6$ 

I also overcame, and am set down with my 
Father in his throne."^ . . . '* To him that 
overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of 
life, which is in the midst of the paradise of 
God "2 — of which the Edenic Adam in the 
Jahvist symbol was not a partaker. 

For it is through Christ — who by the 
power of the Spirit overcame the world in 
himself, even as his followers must likewise 
overcome the world in themselves — that 
man is baptized " with the Holy Ghost and 
with fire ; " ^ that is, v/ith '* the Spirit of 
God." The natural man in every soul, 
therefore, in the Edenic state, may be m^-k 
to God in the unconscious innocence of 
that state — even as Jesus said of little chil- 
dren, "Their angels do always behold the 
face of my Father which is in heaven ; '' ^ 
but in the Edenic state man is not of God 
in the sense of being "born of the Spirit" 
— he is not yet "become " a partaker of the 

1 Rev. iii: 21. 2 ^qy, [[ -, 7. 

3 Matt, iii ; 11. ^ Matt, xviii : 10. 



66 HUMAN DESTINY 

divine nature ; ^ he is not yet given " to eat 
of the tree of life," to which end he must 
first become a moral being through the 
knowledge of good and evil, by which 
means he is made capable of distinguishing 
between right and wrong. 

1 2 Peter i : 4. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 6^ 



MORAL AND SPIRITUAL STATES 

I 

The distinction between a moral and a 
spiritual consciousness was first revealed 
when Jesus said of John the Baptist, " This 
is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send 
my messenger before thy face, who shall 
prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say 
unto you, Among them that are born of 
women there hath not risen a greater than 
John the Baptist : notwithstanding he that 
is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater 
than he." ^ And Jesus adds this significant 
revelation: " The law and the prophets 
were until John : since that time the king- 
dom of God is preached." ^ 

In the mind of Christ "the law and the 
prophets " — which are representative of 
a moral dispensation — are distinguished 
from that ** kingdom of God" which signi- 

1 Matt, xi : 10, II. ^ Luke xvi : i6. 



6^ HUMAN DESTINY 

fies a spiritual or divine realm. This teach- 
ing of Jesus concerning John is rooted in a 
fundamental principle of his gospel ; namely, 
that "man must be born of the Spirit/' 
John the Baptist was strictly a moral man, 
practically sinless ; and yet Jesus implies 
that he was not yet "of the kingdom of 
God;'' for he said the least of them that 
are of the kingdom of God are " greater 
than he." For the moral sense is not spir- 
itual — it is rooted in obedience to " law ; " 
and this order of righteousness is that of 
" a servant : " but " the kingdom of God " 
is spiritual, wherein "love is the fulfilling 
of the law," ^ and the servant has become 
"a son." (i John iv : 7, 8.) 

II 

The implanting of a moral sense in man 
is the consummation of a natural creation ; '-^ 
and in John, who is affirmed to have been 
greater than the prophets,^ this order of 
righteousness was fulfilled. The scripture 

^ Rom. xiii : 10. 2 Rom. ii : 14. ^ Luke vii : 26. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 69 

says, Jesus came to be baptized of John,^ 
saying, '' For thus it becometh us to fulfil 
all righteousness." ^ Thence on, after the 
descent of the Spirit upon Jesus, the min- 
istry of Christ reveals a spiritual realm, or 
** kingdom of God," which is likewise termed 
" the kingdom of heaven : " a state of *' life " 
wherein divinity itself *^ abides" in the hu- 
man soul. It is not merely in a natural 
sense, therefore, but in a larger spiritual 
sense, which includes the natural, that the 
scripture says, "As we have borne the 
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the 
image of the heavenly." ^ 

When Jesus affirmed that *^ the law and 
the prophets were until John," and "since 
that time the kingdom of God is preached," ^ 
his teaching evinced a wholly new depar- 
ture in Revelation, a wholly new truth was 
then first revealed to man. Christ does 
not stand in the line of the prophets as of 
the same order of righteousness ; he even 

1 Matt, iii 113. 2 Matt, iii : 15. 

^ I Cor. XV : 49. * Luke xvi : 16. 



70 HUMAN DESTINY 

affirmed that John was *'much more than a 
prophet "^ — one sent from God to prepare 
the way 2 of the Lord. 

Ill 

John^s ministry, therefore, was for the 
arousing of a moral sense in the individual ; 
for the baptism of " repentance from dead 
works''^ must precede in every soul that 
baptism of "the Holy Ghost and of fire " * 
which is by Jesus Christ. For man can 
have no experience of a realm of Spirit, or 
" kingdom of God," except a moral sense 
be first awakened in him ; and as it was 
with respect to God's dealing with " a peo- 
ple " in the order of Revelation, so is it with 
his dealing with every individual soul — a 
moral dispensation must precede the spirit- 
ual, and Christ marks this distinction when 
he discriminates between the righteousness 
of "the law and the prophets'' and "the 
kingdom of God." 

1 Matt, xi : 9. (R. V.) 2 Matt, iii : 3. 

3 Heb. vi : I, 2. * Matt, iii : 11. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 71 

IV 

What then, in the light of Revelation, is 
this '* kingdom of God " if it is not "of the 
law and the prophets " ? if it is not of the 
righteousness of moral conduct as witnessed 
in John ? The teaching of Jesus is — and 
the truth may only be discerned as mani- 
fested in Christ, in whom the distinction is 
so marked that it has ever had a tendency 
to separate Jesus from his *' brethren '' — 
that the kingdom of G5d is a spiritual or 
divine realm, wherein the moral law is "ful- 
filled " in the very Being and Presence of 
God ; a "kingdom of peace '' wherein there 
is no consciousness of moral restraint, no 
sense of obligation or of obedience ; where- 
in every thought and word and deed is the 
free and joyful prompting and expression 
of spontaneous love ; a state wherein all is 
affirmative of the freedom of the Spirit,^ of 
the joyous consciousness of God's indwell- 
ing Presence in the soul ; a state wherein 

1 2 Cor. iii : 17, 



72 HUMAN DESTINY 

God and man are in Fatherly and filial re- 
lationship, in perfect " fellowship/* ^ 



This momentous teaching affirms that 
the ministry of Christ is something more 
than a moral, or ethical, dispensation : "The 
law and the prophets were until John : since 
that time the kingdom of God is preached.'' ^ 
In the light of this significant teaching, 
moral perfection does not fulfill the whole 
destiny of man. For, as revealed in Christ, 
man, when made a "partaker of the divine 
nature,", eventually is to come into the un- 
veiled presence of God, spirit to Spirit ; and 
when grown to the fullness of the stature of 
that spiritual manhood revealed in Christ^ 
man will then be " in the form of God,'' ^ 
" the very image of his substance : " ^ for the 
human soul will then be filled and. informed 
with " all the fulness of God." ^ 

1 I John 1:3. 2 Luke xvi : 16. 

3 Eph. iv: 13. * Phil, ii : 6. 

5 Heb. 1:3; 2 Cor. iv : 4. (R. V.) 
* Eph. iii : 19. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 73 

VI 

In his teaching on the mount Jesus be- 
gan his earthly ministry by first spiritual- 
izing the moral sense — pushing it deeper 
than conduct, making it apply ethically to 
the "thoughts of the heart/' He affirmed 
that the secret glance of carnal desire is 
the act of adultery " committed already ; " ^ 
for in a spiritual realm it is the thought 
which determines the sin. Natural moral- 
ity, or right conduct, is the righteousness 
of man,2 and this is of the order of a nat- 
ural world : but he who reveals the Spirit 
discloses a spiritual order of righteousness 
which transcends the righteousness of the 
moral law ; for the scripture says, *^ The 
gospel of Christ ... is the power of God 
unto salvation to every one that believeth 
. . . for therein is revealed a righteousness 
of God." 3 

1 Matt. V : 28. 2 Rom. x : 3, 4. 

3 Rom. i: 16, 17. (R. V.) 



74 HUMAN DESTINY 

Jesus said to his disciples, " Verily I say 
unto you, that many prophets and righteous 
men have desired to see those things which 
ye see, and have not seen them ; and to 
hear those things which ye hear, and have 
not heard them." ^ For until revealed in 
Christ, and in his spiritual followers, the 
divine Spirit, as already stated, was not 
manifested as abiding in man. 

To repeat, therefore : before the coming 
of Christ, God's word was ministered by 
angels ^ and prophets, as instrumentalities, 
and man was approached as a "servant,'' 
from without. But Jesus said to his disci- 
ples, " Henceforth I call you not servants, 
. . . but I have called you friends."^ For 
of that earlier dispensation the scripture 
says, " Moses verily was faithful in all 
his house, as a servant, for a testimony 
of those things which were afterward to 
be spoken ; but Christ as a son, over his 

1 Matt, xiii : 17. 2 jjeb. ii : 2. 

^ John XV : 14, 15. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 75 

house " ^ — which is a realm of Spirit, "the 
kingdom of God." 



VII 

Moral truths, as of the order of Nature, 
may be apprehended clearly by the natural 
understanding, but spiritual things are 
" spiritually discerned ; " ^ and until this 
spiritual order of discernment is awakened 
in the mind " spiritual things " are deemed 
*^ mystical '' — the apostle says they appear 
even "as foolishness/'^ But they are not 
wholly mystical to the spiritual conscious- 
ness, but normal or natural, as it were, 
and are clearly apprehended. For when 
a spiritual consciousness has once been 
awakened in man these higher truths are 
then discerned spirit to Spirit, for then like 
discerns like.^ To the spiritual conscious- 
ness the moral law is then no longer the 
standard of righteousness, but God him- 
self ; even as Jesus said, '' Be ye therefore 

1 Heb. iii : 5, 6. (R. V.) 2 i Cor. ii : 14. 

3 I Cor. ii : 14. * i Cor. ii : 10--13. 



^(^ HUMAN DESTINY 

perfect, even as your Father which is in 
heaven is perfect ; " ^ and when addressed 
as '' Good Master," Jesus replied, " Why 
callest thou me good ? There is none good, 
but one ; that is, God." ^ 

Matt. V : 48. 2 Matt, xix : 17. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 77 



THE SPIRIT IMPARTED TO MAN 

I 

That John discerned in Jesus a higher 
order of **life" than that which was ful- 
filled in himself is manifest from his words, 
*^ After me there cometh a man which is 
preferred before me ; for he was before me.^ 
. . . One mightier than I ; whose shoe- 
latchet I am not worthy to stoop down and 
unloose.^ . . . He shall baptize you with the 
Holy Ghost, and with fire.^ ... I saw the 
Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, 
and it abode upon him."^ 

If this were a special or miraculous ex- 
perience, wholly apart from what transpires 
subconsciously in the souls of all men when 
*'born of the Spirit," then that special ex- 
perience would have removed Jesus from 
off the plane of that humanity which is 

1 John i : 30. 2 Mark i : 7. 

3 Luke iii : 16. * John i : 32. 



78 HUMAN DESTINY 

common to man, and consequently he could 
not have served as an example for man. 
But Jesus teaches otherwise, — " Verily, 
verily, I say unto you. He that belie veth 
on me, the works that I do shall he do 
also/' ^ This believing on him implies re- 
ceiving his teaching and following his ex- 
ample in all things ; and as his anointing 
of the Spirit ^ was his source of power in 
" overcoming the world," so will it be with 
his followers in like manner, even to that 
consummation of human destiny when they 
likewise shall be " filled with all the fulness 
of God ; " ^ or when all things are *^ ful- 
filled" ^ in "perfect man," and God is "all 

in all." 5 

II 

It has been a subject of philosophical 
speculation, in the light of Science, as to 
whether there is discernible ati any point 
in the order of Nature the evidence of a 

1 John xiv : 12. ^ Acts x : 38. 

3 Eph. iii : 19. * Matt, v ; 18. 

o I Cor. XV : 28. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 79 

supernatural intervention marking, for in- 
stance, the divisions of the several king- 
doms of Nature, or separating man from 
a lower order of creation. The tendency 
of modern scientific discovery is steadily 
toward establishing the uniformity of Na- 
ture through the unbroken continuity of 
natural law. But in the revelation of Jesus 
Christ his whole teaching is based upon a 
st/pra-natural intervention through this de- 
scent of the Spirit upon man.^ The scrip- 
ture says, ** When the fulness of time was 
come" — that is, when the natural 'crea- 
tion w^as eventually consummated in time 
— ** God sent forth his Son . . . that we 
might receive the adoption of sons " and 
become "heirs of God through Christ." ^ 

Jesus having received the Spirit, as sym- 
bolized at his baptism, imparts this same 
"gift of God" to his followers, for the 
scripture says, " He quickeneth whom he 
will." 3 And that this " gift of the Spirit " 
is added, ad extra, to the natural constitu- 

1 John i: 32. 2 Qal. iv : 4-7. ^ John v : 21. 



8o HUMAN DESTINY 

tion of man is implied in the teaching con- 
cerning Jesus ; namely, that at his baptism 
" the heaven was opened unto him, and the 
Spirit descended upon him '' ^ — symbol- 
ized by a dove : and thenceforth Jesus went 
forth " in the power of the Spirit/' ^ 

No conceivable act is so wholly apart 
from the known order of Nature as this 
opening of the heaven and descending of 
the divine Spirit upon man. It reveals 
a " new life," a new realm — the life of the 
Spirit, "the kingdom of God." This ex- 
perience of Jesus, as implied in the symbol 
given at his baptism, reveals a supra-n^itural 
imparting of the divine nature to man, 
disclosing his divine destiny. And this 
descent of the Spirit upon Jesus was the 
fulfilling of that ancient prophecy, "Be- 
hold my servant, whom I have chosen, . . . 
I will put my Spirit upon him." ^ 

In the light of this significant teaching 
there is imparted to man, through Christ, 

1 Luke iii : 21, 22. 2 Luke iv : 14. 

3 Isa. xlii : i ; Matt, xii : 18. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 8i 

not merely a higher ethical principle of life, 
but a wholly new nature — of " the Spirit 
of God/' 1 This truth is insisted on with 
constant reiteration in the New Testa- 
ment, and with every variety in the form of 
expression, because of its fundamental im- 
portance in connection with the fulfillment 
of human destiny ; for a knowledge of the 
truth 2 is a means of hastening the con- 
summation of that destiny. 

1 Rom. viii : 9, 14. ^ John viii : 32. 



82 HUMAN DESTINY 



ACTIVITIES OF NATURE AND 
SPIRIT 



It has thus been shown from the testi- 
mony of scripture that the revelation of the 
Spirit is siipra-n3,tuY3l ^ — over and above 
Nature. The spiritual includes the natural, 
but the natural only includes the spiritual 
when man is '^ born of God/' The revela- 
tion of this truth is to the individual soul, 
through Jesus Christ, who said, " I am the 
way and the truth and the life; no man 
cometh unto the Father but by me/' ^ 

With reference to this spiritual enlight- 
enment of man by Revelation, the apostle 
Peter says, " We have a sure word of pro- 
phecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take 
heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark 
place, until the day dawn, and the day-star 

1 Eph. i : 17. 2 John xiv : 6. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 83 

arise in your hearts." ^ For it is through 
this " sure word of prophecy " that man 
gains a knowledge of his true Hfe and ulti- 
mate destiny, the revelation having culmi- 
nated in a manifestation of the truth in all 
its fullness in Jesus Christ. 



II 

We may conclude, therefore, that Science 
and Revelation are of two orders of know- 
ledge, derived respectively from Nature and 
Spirit ; and these two orders of knowledge 
are coordinated in "perfect man." One 
order of enlightenment relates to a realm 
of Nature, while the other relates to a 
realm of Spirit, or "kingdom of God;" 
one is concerned with the temporal life of 
man, while the other is concerned wdth 
" eternal life " and man's ultimate destiny 
— for '' This is life eternal, that they might 
know thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom thou hast sent." ^ 

^ 2 Peter i : 19. 2 John xvii : 3. 



84 HUMAN DESTINY 

III 

The natural history of creation, in the 
light of Science, passes from the so-called 
inorganic to the organic, from lower to 
higher organisms, from unconscious to con- 
scious life. Thence on, in man, physical in- 
stincts are gradually subordinated to intel- 
lectual and moral faculties until the body 
eventually becomes the servant of a right- 
eous and informed mind. Parallel with 
this enlightenment of Science is the order 
of Revelation, which traces man's passage 
from a carnal to a moral state, as witnessed 
in the Old Testament ; and from a moral 
to a spiritual state, as witnessed in the New 
Testament. While, therefore, Science ex- 
plains the ceaseless activities of Nature in 
the forming of man — as to his physical 
organism and natural attributes of mind — 
Revelation affirms the activity of the Spirit, 
as striving with man ^ through the ages, 
seeking to redeem the human soul from 

1 Gen. vi : 3. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 85 

" the beggarly elements " ^ of the world, 
that God may impart his own nature to 
man and thus consummate the divine pur- 
pose of his creation — in a " kingdom pre- 
pared for you from the foundation of the 
world." 2 And if Science now sheds in- 
creasing light on the natural process of 
man*s creation, Revelation discloses with 
equal certainty, to say the least, the opera- 
tion of the Spirit ; first through " the Spirit 
of prophecy " and then through Jesus 
Christ, " redeeming '' the human soul from 
the world and " saving " it to its divine 
destiny. 

IV 

That these two orders of truth, consti- 
tuting Science and Revelation, derived re- 
spectively from Nature and Spirit, are des- 
tined to become coordinated in a larger and 
more comprehensive view of man's nature 
and destiny than the human mind has 
hitherto conceived, is a conclusion now 
dawning in the human consciousness. 

1 Gal. iv : 9. 2 Matt, xxv : 34. 



S6 ' HUMAN DESTINY 

Speculation or conjecture, whether in the 
guise of philosophy or of science, can never 
become a substitute for Revelation, for 
Nature affirms no truth concerning that 
which lies beyond the temporal life of man. 
The apostle Paul, alive to the tendency of 
the human mind to substitute " man's wis- 
dom '' for the revelation of the Spirit, gives 
this significant warning : " Beware lest any 
man spoil you through philosophy and vain 
deceit, after the traditions of men, after 
the rudiments of the world, and not after 
Christ"! 

But while Science continues to open new 
vistas of truth through the discovery of nat- 
ural law, and Revelation continues to dis- 
close new heights to which the conscious- 
ness of man may attain through Christ, 
then must these instrumentalities ever con- 
tinue to enlarge the horizon of the human 
mind and afford a clearer vision of the 
grandeur of human life and human destiny. 

Man has already discerned that that is 

1 Col. ii : 8. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION S7 

not life in which no new day of truth ever 
dawns. The infinite springs of the wisdom 
and mystery of Nature will never be ex- 
hausted by Science, nor will the infinite 
fullness of the Spirit ever be exhausted by 
Revelation, or the depths of Revelation 
ever be sounded by the plummet of human 
thought ; for Jesus said, " I have yet many 
things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear 
them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit 
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all 
truth . . . and shew you things to come." ^ 

1 John xvi : 12, 13. 



PART II 

THE DESTINY OF MAN AS REVEALED 
IN CHRIST 



Jesus said, " To this end was I born, and for this 
cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness 
unto the truth." — John xviii : 37. 

" I came that they may have life, and may have it 
abundantly." — John x : 10. (R. V.) 

" I am the way and the truth and the life ; no man 
Cometh unto the Father but by me." — John xiv : 6. 



THE DESTINY OF MAN AS 
REVEALED IN CHRIST 



"WHAT IS MAN?" 



The world of nature, including the uni- 
verse and man, reveals God as the creator 
and sustainer of all things ; but as to his 
spiritual Fatherhood the scriptures affirm 
God is revealed through his Son Jesus 
Christ, who said, ** No man knoweth the 
Father, save the Son, and he to whomso- 
ever the Son will reveal him." ^ 

And in like manner, " man " may be 
known as to his temporal capacities in the 
earthly life ; but before human destiny was 
revealed in Christ the mind of this world 
was ignorant of what really constitutes man, 

1 Matt, xi : 27. 



y 



92 HUMAN DESTINY 

** perfect man;''^ for the highest earthly 
capacity of the human soul is as nothing 
compared with that celestial estate ^ to 
which man attains when his destiny is ful- 
filled ; for as revealed in Christ the horizon 
of that destiny widens immeasurably, and 
man is discerned to be, in the celestial 
state, in ** fellowship " ^ with God. 

II 

In the light of " the revelation of Jesus 
Christ," therefore, it is evident that the 
height and breadth and depth of meaning 
that is hid in the generic term " man/* as 
this term is used in the symbol of Genesis, 
is not compassed by the nattire of man on 
this earth, but may be discerned in that 
celestial Son of man who descended out of 
heaven ; for Jesus said, addressing the hu- 
man consciousness of this world, " No man 
hath ascended into heaven, but he that de- 
scended out of heaven ; even the Son of 
man which is in heaven." ^ Again, he said, 

1 Eph. iv : 13. 2 Rom. viii : 18. 

2 I John i ; 3. ^ John iii : 13. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 93 

'^ What then if ye should behold the Son of 
man ascending where he was before ? " ^ 

As used by Christ the term " Son of 
man " is not simply a messianic title ; the 
expression signifies, primarily, the veritable 
existence of the Messiah as an individual 
human soul ; and when he said, ^' No man 
hath ascended into heaven, but he that de- 
scended out of heaven," Jesus affirms that 
the same fna^i who eventually "ascended 
again," had likewise " descended out of 
heaven;" for he says that he is *^the Son 
of man which is in heaven." And this is 
likewise affirmed in the scripture : " He 
that descended first into the lower parts of 
the earth, is the same also that ascended up 
far above all heavens, that he might fill all 
things, and for the perfecting of the saints 
. . . till we all come into the unity of the 
faith, and to the knowledge of the Son of 
God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure 
of the stature of the fulness of Christ." ^ 

1 John vi : 62. (R. V.) 

2 Eph. iv : 4-9. 



94 HUMAN DESTINY 

III 

In the light of this significant revelation, 
whereby the pre-incarnate existence of the 
human soul of the Messiah is implied, as 
well as his post-incarnate glorified state as 
"perfect man," human destiny is found to 
embrace a transcendant heavenly or divine 
estate, which is only conceivable through 
its revelation and manifestation in Jesus 
Christ. When, therefore, it is affirmed in 
the scriptures that Christ was " born of the 
seed of David according to the flesh ; and 
declared to be the Son of God, with power, 
according to the Spirit of holiness," ^ it is 
not implied therein that the Messiah was 
first endowed with a human soul at the 
time of his incarnation ; for of that incarna- 
tion it was prophesied, " A body didst thou 
prepare for me ; " ^ and when born of Mary 
this was designated *'that holy thing . . . 
which shall be called the Son of God."^ 

1 Rom. i : 3, 4. 2 Heb. x : 5. (R. V.) 

3 Luke i : 35. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 95 

For in the light of the New Testament, 
body, soul, and spirit ^ are all comprised in 
perfect man ; and the apostle Paul affirms 
that *' there is a natural body, and there is 
a spiritual body," ^ and '* the creature it- 
self also shall be delivered from the bond- 
age of corruption into the glorious liberty 
of the children of God." ^ 

1 I Thess. V : 23. ^ i Cor. xv : 44. 

3 Rom. viii : 21. 



96 HUMAN DESTINY 



'^THE SON OF MAN 



The expression, " Son of man/' by which 
Jesus insistently designates himself, stands, 
therefore, for the individual human soul. 
The term is applicable to Jesus because 
he is indeed very man, even as that which 
" dwelleth '' ^ in him with all the divine " ful- 
ness '' is very God. '' He knew what was 
in man," ^ for human nature was fulfilled in 
him ; he experienced this " at all points, 
being tempted like as we are, yet without 
sin." ^ '^ For," the scripture affirms, " both 
he that sanctifieth, and they who are sancti- 
fied, are all of one; for which cause he is 
not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 
I will declare thy name unto my breth- 
ren." 4 

In the light of this teaching, " the Son 

1 Col. ii : 9. 2 John ii : 25. 

^Heb. iv;i5. * Heb. ii : 11, 12. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 97 

of man in heaven/' as to his human soul, is 
of one nature with his *^ brethren" of this 
world ; but in him is manifested human 
destiny fulfilled in *^ perfect man " as Son 
of God. For, as manifested in Christ, the 
divine sonship consists in man's birth of 
the Spirit ;^ and the *' Son of God " is the 
Spirit of the Father, the one only Spirit, 
" begotten " in man, imparted to man — as 
revealed once for all at the baptism of 
Jesus.2 Through the revelation in Christ 
it may be discerned, therefore, that there 
is no divine sonship unassociated with the 
human soul ; for in the " Son of man " the 
divine Spirit is eternally individualized and 
made personal as ''the Son of God," as 
affirmed by the scripture : " This man, be- 
cause he continueth forever, hath an un- 
changeable priesthood." ^ 

II 

The words, ''The Son of man descended 
out of heaven," and " This man . . . con- 

1 John iii : 5. 2 Mark i : 10. ^ Heb. vii : 24. 



98 HUMAN DESTINY 

tinueth forever/' disclose to the mind of 
this world a heavenly estate of man, re- 
vealed in Jesus Christ. And by this same 
light it may be discerned that the humanity 
of the Messiah was not temporarily as- 
sumed through his incarnation, but was 
** made flesh " ^ by that means. This is an 
important distinction ; for had the human 
soul of the Messiah originated as a special 
or miraculous creation, Jesus would then 
have stood among men as an unrelated be- 
ing, incapable of revealing their destiny. 
Were not Jesus truly ''man,'* and as he 
insistently affirms, the '' Son of man,'' he 
could not have served as an example for 
man ; for an example, to be effectual as 
such, must be wholly within the conditions 
wherein it is to serve as a pattern. But 
according to his own teaching the Messiah 
is affirmed to be " Son of man " before and 
after his incarnation ; and the scripture 
says he is "perfect man" ^ — as such he is 
a revealer of human destiny. 

1 John i : 14. ^ ^p^^ jy . j^^ 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 99 

III 

To apprehend the fullness, or complete- 
ness, of the revelation of human destiny in 
Jesus Christ it is essential that the human- 
ity of the Messiah be discerned in his pre- 
incarnate, his incarnate, and in his ascended 
or glorified states of being ; therefore with 
equal insistence the scriptures affirm that 
it was *' the Son of man " who descended, 
was incarnated, and ascended again : for 
Jesus said, "The Son of man will come 
with power and great glory " ^ — in his fu- 
ture heavenly manifestations. 

The persistence of the human personality 
of Jesus in the heavenly, as in the earthly 
state of being, is further attested by the 
words, " This same Jesus, who was received 
up from you into heaven, shall so come in 
like manner as ye beheld him going into 
heaven " ^ — as symbolized by his visible 
ascension. That is, the Messiah will reap- 
pear in his future heavenly manifestations 

1 Matt, xxiv : 30. 2 ^cts i : 1 1. (R. V.) 

LofC. 



100 HUMAN DESTINY 

as a human soul in whom " dwelleth all the 
fulness of the Godhead, bodily ; '' ^ for the 
scripture distinctly affirms the persistence 
of that human personality — "this same 
Jesus/' 

In the light of Revelation, therefore, it 
may be discerned that Jesus, as the Christ 
of God, is a human soul perfected — a celes- 
tial "man,'' filled and informed with the 
Spirit of God and individualized as "Jesus;" 
of whom it is affirmed that " God hath made 
him both Lord and Christ." ^ 

1 Col. ii : 9. 2 Acts ii : 36. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION loi 



^^THE MESSIAH" 



In order that the Son of God, as *'the 
Son of man in heaven/' might reveal in 
himself, or in his own personal experience, 
*' the way and the truth and the life " ^ — as 
the means whereby this newly created fam- 
ily of man is to attain to the end or con- 
summation of human destiny — it was 
necessary that he should descend, as the 
Messiah, into their conditions and stand 
beside his brethren of this world on their 
own plane of experience. And that he 
might so "descend '' it was necessary that 
he should be deprived, for a season, of 
''that glory which he had with the Fa- 
ther " 2 in the heavenly, or celestial state 
of being. That ''glory" was of the Fa- 
ther's Spirit, which he relinquished in order 
that he might, as prophecy figuratively ex- 

1 John xiv : 6. ^ John xvii : 5. 



102 HUMAN DESTINY 

pressed it, *' descend into the lower parts 

of the earth/* ^ or into the unquickened 

natural state of man ; and that he might so 

descend, the apostle Paul affirms, *' He 

emptied himself, taking the form of a ser- 
vant." 2 

Spiritually there is no other way con- 
ceivable by which this ** descent '' of the 
Messiah into the earthly state of man could 
have been effected ; for this descent was 
not through space, but by his being emp- 
tied, or made void, of that indwelling divine 
presence with which he was reendowed at 
his baptism, when "the Spirit descended 
upon him,'' figuratively, ^*like a dove."^ 

II 

That the descent of the Messiah into the 
earthly life was gradual, culminating in his 
incarnation, is apparent when messianic 
prophecy is studied as a whole. And as 
implied in the expression, " he emptied him- 

1 Eph. iv : 8-10. 2 Phil, ii : 7. (R. V.) 

2 John i :32. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 103 

self," ^ this descent was effected by a will- 
ing relinquishment of that divine endow- 
ment which the Son of man in heaven, as 
the Son of God, had from the Father, as 
implied in his prayer to God at the close of 
his ministry : " Glorify thou me with thine 
own self, with the glory which I had with 
thee before the world was." ^ 

The divine Spirit having been withdrawn 
for a season from that celestial human soul, 
the Messiah came as a '* servant ;" that is, 
in his own human propriiim as " Son of 
man ; " and in this natural, moral state, 
Jesus remained until reendowed with the 
divine Spirit at the beginning of his min- 
istry. 

Ill 

Apart from speculative conjecture, dis- 
cerned in the light of messianic prophecy 
the descent of the Son of God as Son of 
man was by his passing from a divine to a 
human state of consciousness, from a spirit- 
ual to a natural state of being ; and the 

1 Phil, ii : 7. (R. V.) 2 John xvii : 5. 



104 HUMAN DESTINY 

figurative expression, " He emptied him- 
self/' signifies the means by which this 
descent from the heavenly to the earthly 
state was effected. 

This withdrawal of the divine Spirit is 
likewise implied in the words, *' In his hu- 
miliation his judgment was taken away ; " ^ 
for, coming in his own human propritim^ as 
^' Son of man,'' the mind of the Messiah 
was the mind of "perfect man "tempora- 
rily made void of its heavenly endowment 
of the Father's indwelling Spirit ; and he 
was so "emptied," or deprived of his divine 
inheritance, that he might stand beside his 
brethren of this world in their unquickened, 
natural state of being, to show them "the 
way " by which they might be " redeemed " 
from the conditions in which the earthly 
man is formed, and to provide a means 
whereby they might be " saved " to that 
divine inheritance for which they were 
destined ; for Jesus said, " No man cometh 
unto the Father, but by me." ^ 

1 Acts viii : 33. 2 John xiv . 6. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 105 

This relinquishment of the Spirit is like- 
wise implied in the words, '* For your sake, 
he became poor, that ye through his pov- 
erty might become rich." ^ Thus, as figura- 
tively foretold by prophecy, the Messiah de- 
scended "into the pit " and *'miry clay,"^ 
that he might approach this earthly family 
of man consciously, or normally, on the 
natural plane of life, face to face ; that by 
his aid and example he might lift this 
newly created human family up to God, as 
affirmed in the words : " And I, if I be 
lifted up out of the earth, will draw all men 
unto me/' ^ 

IV 

In the light of both Old and New Tes- 
tament prophecy, therefore, it may be dis- 
cerned that the descending of the Messiah 
as Son of man, and his '* rising again " ^ as 
Son of God, was solely with reference to 
his having relinquished for a season his 

1 2 Cor. viii : 9. (R. V.) 2 pga. xl : 2. 

3 John xii : 32. (R. V. marg.) * Rom. viii : 34. 



io6 HUMAN DESTINY 

divine inheritance of the Father's Spirit, 
and to his subsequent reendowment with 
the same : upon this momentous truth is 
based, fundamentally, his revelation of hu- 
man destiny. 

For it is inconceivable that any being, 
God or man, could, so to speak, be " emp- 
tied '' of his own nature, of his own pro- 
prium. But the Son of God, as " the Son 
of man in heaven " filled with the Spirit 
of the Father, could have that indwelling 
Spirit withdrawn ^ for a season and '' de- 
scend out of heaven " in his own human 
personality as '^ Son of man," being incar- 
nated ^^ of the seed of David according to 
the flesh." ^ And Jesus distinctly affirms 
that it was the '' Son of man " who so de- 
scended.^ Upon this fundamental truth of 
his gospel, or "good tidings," is based his 
revelation of man's ultimate destiny. For 
by his descending from heaven as Son of 
man, and by his ascending again as Son of 

1 " Take not thy Holy Spirit from me." — Psa. li : ii. 
2 Rom. i : 3. 8 John iii: 13. (R. V.) 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 107 

God, Jesus, as the Christ of God,^ reveals 
to the mind of this world the whole nature 
and destiny of '* perfect man," manifesting 
** the truth " in his own person and show- 
ing his brethren the way by which they 
likewise are to attain to the same inher- 
itance, as expressed in his prayer to the 

Father, **That they may be one, even as we 
are." 2 

V 

In that unquickened, natural state of 
man into which the' Messiah had descended 
he remained for thirty years, known as 
"the carpenter,'*^ known as ''Jesus of 
Nazareth," ^ in no way differing in his 
human nature from his fellow men of this 
earth save as to his sinlessness,^ and in the 
fact that as his was the incarnation of a 
preexisting human soul he was born of a 
virgin. Emerging from that sinless, moral 
state, no record of which was deemed es- 

1 Rev. xi : 15; xii: 10 ^ Johnxvii: 11. (R. V.) 

8 Mark vi : 3 ; Acts ii : 22 ; x : 38. 

4 John i : 45 ; Acts x : 38. ^ Heb. iv : 15. 



io8 HUMAN DESTINY 

sential to his message of ''good tidings/' 
the Messiah was reendowed with the Fa- 
ther's Spirit at the beginning of his minis- 
try, when ''the Spirit descended upon him 
. . . and abode on him ; and there came a 
voice from heaven, saying, " This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased '' ^ — 
a fulfillment of the prophecy, "This day 
have I begotten thee." ^ 

The sign of this imparting of the divine 
Spirit, as given at the baptism of Jesus, 
was a symbol of that regeneration which is 
gradually perfected in the human soul ; for 
at a later day Jesus said, " I have a baptism 
to be baptized with, and how am I strait- 
ened till it be accomplished." ^ For it was 
not until Jesus drew nigh to the end of his 
sojourn on earth that he said, "The prince 
of this world cometh and hath [or " find- 
eth," R. v.] nothing in me;"^ for there 
remained in him then nothing that was 

1 Matt, iii : 17. 

2 Psa. ii : 7 ; Acts xiii : 33 ; Heb. i : 5. 

3 Luke xii : 50. * John xiv : 30. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 109 

open to further temptation ; and then it was 
that he prayed the Father to restore to him, 
in all its fullness, the divine Spirit : ** Glorify 
thou me with thine own self, with the glory 
which I had with thee before the world 
was."i 

VI 

What transpired, therefore, at his baptism 
by John was but the symbol of that spirit- 
ual baptism that was only fully consum- 
mated at a later day when he had been 
*' made perfect through sufferings " ^ and 
had '* overcome the world " ^ that is set in 
the human heart ^ in the forming of man. 
Then it was that Jesus said, " The hour is 
come that the Son of man should be glori- 
fied ; " ^ that is, reendowed with the Fa- 
ther's indwelling presence with all the 
divine " fulness." 

Signs are a teaching instrumentality, and 
this descending of the Spirit upon Jesus in 

1 John xvii : 5. 2 Heb. ii : 10. ^ John xvi : 33. 
* Eccl. iii : II. ^ John xii : 23. 



no HUMAN DESTINY 

the form of a dove was indicative of the 
imparting of that to him which was not 
himself, but the Spirit of the Father, in 
fulfillment of the prophecy, " Behold my 
servant, whom I have chosen ; I will put 
my Spirit upon him, and he shall bring 
forth judgment unto truth." ^ 

In the spiritual, as in the natural world, 
growth is gradual ; and even as it was said of 
Jesus in his earlier years, that he " increased 
in wisdom and stature, and in favour with 
God and man," ^ so likewise from that 
initial spiritual experience at his baptism 
by John, when *'the heaven was opened 
unto him," ^ Jesus eventually attained to 
the fullness or perfection of that spiritual 
manhood ^ of which his followers, through 
his aid and power, are made partakers 
when they likewise are " become the sons 
of God " ^ through this same imparting of 
the Spirit to them that are willing to receive 
the divine gift. 

1 Isa. xliii : lo; Matt, xii : i8. 

2 Luke ii : 52. ^ Matt, iii : 16, 17. 
* I Cor. XV : 45, 49. ^ John i ; 12. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION in 

VII 

That imquickened, natural state of man 
into which the Messiah had descended 
— apart from all considerations of willful 
sin — is designated a state of spiritual 
''death:" ''For to this end Christ both 
died and rose and revived, that he might 
be the Lord both of the dead and the liv- 
ing ; " ^ that is, Lord of both his " natural- 
minded " and " spiritual-minded '' followers. 
For the apostle Paul, in marking this dis- 
tinction, says, " First the natural ; after- 
ward, then that which is spiritual ; the first 
man is of the earth, earthy; the second 
man is of heaven ; ... as we have borne the 
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the 
image of the heavenly." ^ 

That the "death" and "rising again" 
of the Messiah is commonly interpreted as 
referring exclusively to the bodily experi- 
ence of Jesus — to his physical death and 
bodily resurrection — is according to a nat- 

1 Rom. xiv : 9. ^ i Cot, xv : 45-49. (R. V.) 



112 HUMAN DESTINY 

ural understanding, to the exclusion of its 
spiritual significance. But the terms "life" 
and " death " are used in the scriptures in 
both senses ; and as herein employed the 
terms '* living" and "dead" signify the 
quickened or unquickened state of man 
with reference to the presence or absence 
of the divine Spirit, as when Jesus said : 
*' Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour 
Cometh, and now is, when the dead shall 
hear the voice of the Son of God ; and 
they that hear shall live." ^ 

VIII 

The ''death" experienced by that heav- 
enly Son of man, who was the Son of God, 
was, therefore, nof alone with reference to 
the termination of his physical life at his 
crucifixion ; primarily it was with reference 
to his having descended from the heavenly 
or spiritual, to the earthly or natural state 
of man. For the Messiah could not have 
revealed himself, or his divine message, to 

1 John V : 25 ; xi : 25, 26. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 113 

his ^' brethren " of this world, except he 
stood beside them on their own plane of 
life, in their earthly conditions, being sub- 
ject to like temptations with them, though 
sinless. This, then, was his ** sacrifice ; " 
namely, that for their sake ^ the Son of 
God laid aside '*that glory which he had 
with the Father " — that divine endow- 
ment of the Spirit which was his *'joy" 
and *' glory" in the heavenly state — that 
he might descend into their earthly and un- 
quickened state to '^redeem" and "save" 
them. In all its height and breadth and 
depth of meaning this was that spiritual 
** death and sacrifice " which the Messiah 
experienced in the fulfillment of his mis- 
sion. He who is "of purer eyes than to 
behold iniquity " ^ descended, according 
to the words of prophecy, into "an horri- 
ble pit " and " miry clay ; " ^ he who was in 
fellowship with God in that glory which 
he had with the Father " emptied him- 
self " of his divine inheritance, impover- 

1 2 Cor. viii : 9. 2 Hab. i : 13. ^ Psa. xl : 2. 



114 HUMAN DESTINY 

ished himself, ^^ that ye through his poverty ^ 
might become rich ''^ — that he might re- 
veal in himself the way and the truth and 
the life, and, when reendowed with the 
Spirit of the Most High, that he might 
impart the " gift of God '' ^ to his brethren 
of this world, that they likewise may be 
made ''partakers of the divine nature*'^ 
and *' become the sons of God." ^ 

1 2 Cor. viii : 9. (R. V.) ^ John iv : 10. 
3 2 Peter i : 4. * John i : 12. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 115 



"PERFECT MAN" 



Starting, therefore, as ''the captain of 
their salvation," ^ from that unquickened 
natural state of man into which the Mes- 
siah had descended, Jesus received the ini- 
tial sign of his reendowment with the Spirit 
at his baptism, when " the heaven was 
opened" ^ unto him. Thence on he "rose 
again," spiritually, for there is a progress 
observable in the character of his teaching, 
a gradual transfiguration of his mind, until, 
toward the end of his ministry, he announces 
that " the hour is come that the Son of man 
should be glorified." ^ 

In manifesting "the way," Jesus himself 
passed through the experience that all souls 
must pass through, for he reveals the nature 
and destiny of " perfect man " in all states 
of being, as well as the spiritual Father- 

1 Heb. ii : 10. 2 Luke iii : 21. ^ John xii : 23. 



ii6 HUMAN DESTINY 

hood of God. His destiny is man's destiny, 
for the scripture says, " Truly our fellow- 
ship is with the Father, and with his Son 
Jesus Christ." ^ But the destiny which 
he reveals is so overwhelming to the mind, 
so holy, so divine — ending in man's inherit- 
ance of " all the fulness of God " ^ — that 
to the natural understanding it seems blas- 
phemous even to name it. When Jesus de- 
clared the truth, as manifested in himself, 
" Then took they up stones to cast at him," 
deeming him a blasphemer of God ; " that 
he, being a man, should make himself God." 
But Jesus answered, ** Is it not written in 
your law, I said, Ye are gods ? If he called 
them gods, unto whom the word of God 
came (and the scripture cannot be broken), 
say ye of him whom the Father hath sanc- 
tified, and sent into the world. Thou blas- 
phemest ; because I said, I am the Son of 
God ? " ^ The claim of Jesus was even less 
in its seeming than that warranted by the 

1 I John i : 2, 3. 2 gp^, {[[ . jq, 

8 John X : 3 [-36 ; Psa. Ixxxii : 6 ; Isa. xli : 23. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 117 

scripture he quotes, or that elsewhere is 
prophesied of man ; namely, that when made 
a partaker of the divine nature — eventu- 
ally, when fully perfected — man is ** in 
the image and likeness of God." 

II 

This godlike nature of perfect man is 
affirmed of those " unto whom the word of 
God came," who are thus made ^' partakers 
of the divine nature." ^ For this godlike na- 
ture and divine likeness are spiritual ; and 
the revelation of this truth concerning man 
may only be discerned in the life and char- 
acter of Jesus Christ, who is affirmed to be 
"in the form of God," ^ the "very image 
of his substance." ^ 

As taught by Christ concerning the ne- 
cessity that " man must be born again," 
or " born of the Spirit," the distinction be- 
tween sons of man and sons of God is a 
generic distinction ; the natural mind does 

1 2 Peter 1:4. 2 phii. fi : 6. 

3 Heb. i : 3 (R. V.). 



ii8 HUMAN DESTINY 

not become spiritual through any refining 
process in the order of nature or of mental 
culture. The natural mind is capable of 
infinite refinements without becoming in 
the least degree spiritual. Even as to the 
perfect moral sense, Jesus said of John the 
Baptist that he was less than the least of 
those who are of the kingdom of heaven.^ 

Christ manifested in himself these two 
natures, the spiritual and the natural, the 
divine and the human, as "reconciled in 
one body," ^ as brought into perfect agree- 
ment of will and life ; and this supreme 
manifestation in him was the revelation of 
a universal truth : all men, when *^ born of 
the Spirit," are sons of God, from the least 
unto the greatest ; for in Christ it may be 
discerned that there is no divine sonship 
unassociated with the human soul. 

Ill 

When Jesus stood upon this earth as the 
sole exponent of that divine sonship which 

1 Matt, xi: ii. ^ Ep^^ jj . 14-16. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 119 

is " born of the Spirit/' ^ he was designated 
" the only-begotten ; '* ^ but when his fol- 
lowers likewise, through his aid and power, 
were made partakers of the same Spirit, 
Jesus was then discerned as the '* first-be- 
gotten:*'^ "Whom he did foreknow [that 
is, the spiritual being which man is destined 
to become], he also did predestinate to be 
conformed to the image of his Son, that he 
might be the first-born among many breth- 
ren." ^ And Jesus tells his followers, who 
are also made ''partakers of the divine na- 
ture " ^ through this gift of the Spirit, that 
they likewise shall speak the words of God ; 
for on sending them forth to proclaim the 
glad tidings of man's divine destiny, he 
said, '' Be not anxious how or what ye shall 
speak ; for it shall be given you in that 
same hour what ye shall speak. For it is 
not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your 
Father that speaketh in you." ^ 

1 John iii : 5. ^ John i : 14. 

3 Heb. i : 6. * Rom. viii : 29. 

5 2 Peter 1:4. ^ Matt, x ; 19, 20. (R. V.) 



I20 HUMAN DESTINY 

IV 

Thus Christ manifests in himself the 
ultimate destiny of man ; for the scripture 
says, " Ye are all sons of God, through 
faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you 
as were baptized into Christ, did put on 
Christ. . . . For ye are all one man in 
Christ Jesus." ^ 

Jesus claims nothing for himself that he 
does not affirm to be equally the heritage 
of his followers when they stand where he 
stands : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He 
that believeth on me, the works that I do 
shall he do also.''^ He does not claim 
for himself the generic title "man;'' he 
affirms that he is the "Son of man '' — an 
individual human soul. Nor does he claim 
for himself the generic title " God ; '* he 
affirms that he is the " Son of God.'* But 
while his followers in the earthly life are 
but as " spiritual babes,'' he is grown to the 
full stature of a spiritual manhood — he is 

1 Gal. iii : 26-28. (R. V.) 2 john xiv : 12. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 121 

"perfect man," ^ he is "in the form of 
God/' 2 '* the very image of his substance :"^ 
that is, the perfect expression of the Spirit. 
In him, therefore, is revealed ''all the ful- 
ness " of the divine and human natures in 
perfect "fellowship," in Fatherly and Filial 
relationship through oneness of Spirit and 
will and life ; he is, therefore, a revealer 
both of God and perfect man, manifesting 
in himself the ultimate destiny of the indi- 
vidual human soul when made perfect even 
as he is perfect. 

V 

That the Messiah is truly man, " raised 
up unto you of your brethren,"* and that 
his relationship to God is the same relation- 
ship, and not another, as that which his fol- 
lowers shall eventually bear to the Father 
as "the sons of God," is attested by these 
words of Christ after he had risen from the 
grave : ^ "Go to my brethren, and say unto 

1 Eph. iv: 13. 2 Phil, ii: 6. 

3 Heb. i : 3. (R. V.) * Acts iii ; 22. 



122 HUMAN DESTINY 

them : I ascend to my Father, and your 
Father; and to my God, and your God."^ 
Though risen from the grave, the Son of 
God is still Son of man ; though passed be- 
yond the earthly life, he is still of "the 
brethren '' — he is still human ; his Father 
is their Father ; his God their God. Death 
has wrought no change in his relationships 
to God and man ; physical dissolution has 
not in the least affected the human soul of 
Jesus. And he is eager to assure his breth- 
ren that, though risen and glorified, he is 
not parted from them. In point of fact, 
this is for them the supreme joy of his 
" glad tidings," the very heart and crown 
of his revelation of human destiny. For 
his tidings are of that heavenly estate of 
perfect man wherein God is "all in all;''^ 
and that ultimate destiny of man he is 
actually manifesting in himself, in his 
own person, for he is " the Son of man in 
heaven." Recognizing this, the apostle 
Paul says, " If Christ be not risen, then 

1 John XX : 17. 2 i Cq^. xv : 28. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 123 

is our preaching vain, and your faith is also 
vain." ^ For through the manifestations of 
the risen Jesus the revelation of human 
destiny is projected into the heavens to the 
very end and consummation of that destmy, 
as manifested in the ascended and glorified 
Christ. 

VI 

That the " Son of God " is the Father's 
Spirit imparted to the human soul, indi- 
vidualized and made personal in man, is 
once for all revealed in Jesus Christ ; for 
he is the type and example of that celestial 
brotherhood of perfect man in whom God 
is "all in all *' and "they are without fault 
before his throne ; " ^ that is, they are per- 
fect even in the light of God's presence. 
The God and Father of that celestial race 
of man is likewise " the God and Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ," ^ who so perfectly 
images in character and voices in spirit that 
divine indwelling presence that Jesus said, 

1 I Cor. XV : 14. 2 Rev. xiv : 5. 

8 2 Cor. i : 3 ; xi : 31 ; Eph. i : 3 ; i Peter i : 3. 



124 HUMAN DESTINY 

*'He that hath seen me, hath seen the 
Father." ^ 

VII 

The expression " our Lord, and his 
Christ '* 2 marks a distinction between that 
one only divine Spirit, which is God — for 
Jesus affirms that " God is Spirit " ^ — and 
the manifestation of that Spirit as abiding 
in all its fullness in the soul of perfect man. 
That this distinction was in the mind of 
Paul iis implied in his words, " There is one 
God, and one mediator between God and 
men, the man Christ Jesus.'' ^ Through 
him "all things" with respect to the na- 
tures both of God and perfect man are 
"brought to light," or made conscious in 
man. And the Revelation in him is com- 
plete and final, as implied in his words, " I 
am the way, and the truth, and the life ; " ^ 
for in him the divine will and wisdom and 
love are perfectly manifested forth to the 

1 John xiv : 9. ^ Rev. xi : 1 5. 

3 John iv : 24. (R. V, marg.) 

4 I Tim. ii : 5. ^ John xiv ; 6. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 125 

world. For he is the " form " and " bright- 
ness " ^ of that indwelhng divinity ''which 
in other ages was not made known unto the 
sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his 
holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." ^ 

1 Heb. i : 3. 2 Eph. iii : 5. 



126 HUMAN DESTINY 



^^THE SON OF MAN IN HEAVEN '' 

I 

The human mind of this world could 
have formed no conception of that ultimate 
heavenly state of being which is realized in 
perfect man as the culmination of human 
destiny, except it were enlightened through 
some other means than that by which man 
commonly acquires knowledge. For that 
ultimate destiny of the human soul lies hid 
in a transcendent future which only a reve- 
lation could anticipate. And the scripture 
affirms that the revelation was given " To 
make all men see what is the fellowship 
of the mystery, which from the beginning 
of the world hath been hid in God, who 
created all things by Jesus Christ." ^ 

That he through whom this special family 
of man is formed, might redeem it from the 

1 Eph. iii : 9. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 127 

earthly state and save it to its divine in- 
heritance, he entered their conditions and 
shared their lot, undergoing the experience 
that is common to man. For he "was in 
all points tempted like as we are, yet with- 
out sin," ^ '' Who in the days of his flesh, 
having offered up prayers and supplications 
with strong crying and tears unto him that 
was able to save him from death, and was 
heard in that he feared ; though he were a 
Son, yet learned he obedience by the things 
which he suffered ; and being made per- 
fect, he became the author of salvation unto 
all them that obey him/' ^ 

II 

The Messiah brought to this earthly 
family of man, as manifested in himself, 
** tidings" of that heavenly family of per- 
fect man which is in the *' image and like- 
ness of God " and " in fellowship with the 
Father ; " of whom it had been prophesied, 
"I said, ye are gods." Of that celestial 

1 Heb. iv : 15. 2 Heb. v : 7-9. 



128 HUMAN DESTINY 

people he is the '' chosen one '* ^ through 
whom " God created the worlds *' and this 
special family of man, which eventually he 
redeems and saves. Thus Jesus reveals 
and manifests in himself the ultimate des- 
tiny of the race and of the individual human 
soul. He is for this world the sole " media- 
tor between God and men, himself man ; " ^ 
and as God's celestial vicegerent ^ he is '^ in 
the form of God," even as it was expressed 
of old through prophecy. " Before me there 
was no God formed ; neither shall there be 
after me.''* For when the Father is re- 
vealed, '* whom no man hath seen, nor can 
see,"^ God is then discerned as purely 
spiritual Being ^ — "the God and Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ.".^ 

It was by means of that anthropomorphic 
conception of ''God formed " in the Son of 
man in heaven, who is indeed ''the very 

1 Psa. Ixxxix : 19. ^ i Tim. ii ; 5. (R. V.) 

^ Acts iii : 20, 21. * Isa. xliii : 10. 

^ I Tim. vi : 16. ^ John iv : 24. 

7 2 Cor. xi : 31 ; Eph. i : 3 ; i Peter i : 3. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 129 

image" of the divine substance, that the 
Deity, in the order of Revelation, was made 
apprehensible to the mind of the Israelites 
while as yet the Spirit of the Father was 
unrevealed. For a purely spiritual revela- 
tion of the Deity would have been incom- 
prehensible to the human mind just emer- 
ging from its carnal state. 

Ill 

The "Spirit of prophecy'^ — which is 
affirmed to be " the testimony of Jesus " ^ — 
voiced by anticipation from a realm that is 
above time what was to befall the Messiah 
in the fulfillment of his mission ; not only 
as to outward events, but as to his inward 
experience as well, as expressed through 
the prophets and in the psalms : " Thou 
hast brought me into the dust of death " ^ 
— through his incarnation : but " Thou 
shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me 
up again from the depths of the earth ^. . . 
and I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with 

1 Rev. xix : 10. 2 Psa. xxii : 15. ^ Psa. Ixxi : 20. 



I30 HUMAN DESTINY 

thy likeness. ... I will declare thy name 
unto my brethren.^ ... I will declare the 
decree, The Lord hath said unto me, Thou 
art my Son ; this day have I begotten 
thee "2 — the fulfillment of which was 
when the Spirit descended upon Jesus and 
"abode on him/'^ These and other like 
utterances of prophecy are actually the 
words of the Son of man in heaven fore- 
. telling his future earthly experience, speak- 
ing above time and in the first person, "by 
the mouth of his prophets.'' ^ 

IV 

Studying that earlier revelation, expressed 
in Old Testament prophecy, the disciples 
of Jesus perceived that it was the Christ 
who was with the Israelites,^ speaking by 
" the angel of his presence,'' even as was 
taught by the Messiah after he had risen 
from the grave : " These are the words 

1 Psa. xvii: 15; xxii:22. 

2 Psa. ii : 7 ; Acts xiii : 33 ; Heb. i : 5 ; v : 5. 

3 John i : 32. * Luke i : 70. ^ i Cor. x : 4. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 131 

which I spake unto you, while I was yet 
with you, how that all things must needs 
be fulfilled, which are written in the law of 
Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, 
concerning me. Then opened he their 
mind, that they might understand the scrip- 
tures " ^ — spiritually. 

It was necessary that man, in the order 
of his forming, should first be approached 
on a natural plane, in his natural state of 
being, before God could reveal himself 
spiritually, ** face to face,'' as he is revealed 
in Jesus Christ "by the Spirit ; '' who said, 
*' He that hath seen me, hath seen the Fa- 
ther;'' ''The Father is in me, and I in 
him." 2 But Jesus implies that this dis- 
cernment is spiritual, when he says, " not 
that any man hath seen the Father, save 
he which is of God." ^ 

In the order of God's creation of the hu- 
man soul it was necessary that the natural 
state should first be fulfilled by implant- 

1 Luke xxiv : 44-46. (R. V.) 

2 John X : 38 ; xiv : 9. ^ John vi : 46. 



132 HUMAN DESTINY 

ing in the mind and heart a moral sense, 
through the Old Testament dispensation, 
before man could be quickened by the 
Spirit imparted from the Father. For the 
" carnal mind " is impervious to spiritual in- 
fluences, and until a moral sense is awak- 
ened in man there is no ground of pre- 
paration for receiving the *'gift of God/' ^ 

1 John iv : lo. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 133 



"THE MAN, CHRIST JESUS" 



The life of Christ, therefore, is the reve- 
lation, for he personifies the truth concern- 
ing human destiny, being "himself man." 
— ** Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of 
God unto you by many mighty works." ^ 
" This Jesus did God raise up. . . . Being 
therefore by the right hand of God ex- 
alted, and having received of the Father 
the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath 
poured forth this" . . . and God *'hath 
made him both Lord and Christ." ^ Again, 
it is written : God " hath glorified his Ser- 
vant Jesus ; '' 3 << Repent ye therefore . . . 
that he may send the Christ whom he hath 
appointed for you, even Jesus : whom the 
heaven must receive until the times of res- 

1 Acts ii : 22. 2 Acts ii : 32-36. (R. V.) 

3 Actsiii:i3. (R. V.) 



134 HUMAN DESTINY 

titution of all things. . . . For Moses truly- 
said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the 
Lord your God raise up unto you of your 
brethren, like unto me."^ And again, 
*'God having raised up his Servant, sent 
him to bless you in turning away every one 
of you from your iniquities/'^ The Mes- 
siah is elsewhere designated **thy holy 
Servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint."^ 
'* Him did God exalt with his right hand to 
be [or to become] a Prince and a Saviour." ^ 
" Be it known unto you . . . that through 
this man is proclaimed unto you remission 
of sins." ^ And finally it is afifirmed that 
God "will judge the world in righteousness 
by the man whom he hath ordained." ^ 

Next to the joy of his conscious presence, 
the joy of this revelation of human destiny 
in Jesus Christ is most capable of inspiring 
and uplifting the minds of his followers 
through all time as a message of ^* good 

1 Acts iii : 19-22. 2 ^^ts iii : 26. (R. V.) 

^ Acts iv : 27 (R. V. ) ; X : 34. ^ Acts v : 31. 

^ Acts xiii : ^S. ^ Acts xvii : 31. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 135 

tidings of great joy which shall be to all 
people/' ^ 

II 

This then was the understanding that 
was lodged in the minds of the immediate 
followers of Christ ; namely, that the Christ 
of God 2 is truly man ; a Son of man 
" anointed " with the Spirit of the Most 
High ; ^ a " servant " who recovered his 
divine sonship through the "gift of the 
Spirit," as symbolized at his baptism. For 
the ministry of Christ was delayed until 
Jesus was reendowed with the Spirit, and 
thence on, it is said, he went forth ** in the 
power of the Spirit"^ — the initial sign 
given at his baptism being confirmed in the 
Mount, as affirmed by the words, " He re- 
ceived from God, the Father, honour and 
glory when there came such a voice to him 
from the excellent glory. This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased."^ 

1 Luke ii : 10. 2 Rev. xi : 15; xii : 10. 

3 Rom. viii : 11. * Luke iv ; 14. ^ 2 Peter i : 17. 



136 HUMAN DESTINY 

It is this indwelling of the divine pre- 
sence in a human soul which distinguishes 
the mission and ministry of Christ from 
that moral dispensation of " Moses and the 
prophets," which Jesus said culminated in 
the order of Revelation with John.^ For it 
is this indwelling of the divine presence in 
a human soul which distinguishes a " son " 
from a ^' servant " of God ; ^ and this fun- 
damental truth of Christ's message cannot 
be reiterated too often, since it has been 
obscured through metaphysical definitions. 
Christ's life is the life of perfect man in all 
states of being ; and in order to a discern- 
ment of the fullness of his revelation of 
human destiny his humanity must be dis- 
cerned in his pre-incarnate, his incarnate, 
and in his glorified states, as '' the Son of 
man in heaven." 

Ill 

The distinction between a moral and a 
spiritual dispensation is implied in these 

1 Luke xvi : i6. ^ Heb. iii ; 5, 6. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 137 

words of Christ : " The law and the pro- 
phets were until John ; since that time the 
kingdom of God is preached ; " ^ and it is 
said of Jesus that '' he spake to them of 
the kingdom of heaven " — of that perfect 
state wherein human destiny is fulfilled ; 
and in order to a right discernment of the 
distinction between the old and the new 
dispensations, it is necessary to distinguish 
between a '* servant " and a '* son " ^ in the 
order of God's instruments of Revelation. 
For it was through the revelation in Jesus 
Christ that a glorified human nature was 
first made manifest to the world ; he first 
revealed that celestial state of man which 
is the fulfillment of human destiny. His 
was a revelation of that reward of the faith- 
ful long ago promised to Abraham : " Fear 
not ; I am thy shield ; and thy exceeding 
great reward ;" ^ for his was a revelation of 
that divine consummation when God is "all 
in all"^ — a revelation, by manifestation, of 

^ Luke xvi : 16. ^ Heb. iii : 5, 6. ^ Gen. xv : i. 
* I Cor. XV : 28 ; 2 Peter i : 4. 



138 HUMAN DESTINY 

the way of " salvation, through sanctifica- 
tion of the Spirit." ^ Had the revelation 
ended with the termination of the earthly- 
life of Jesus, human destiny would have 
remained unrevealed ; but it is Christ speak- 
ing from heaven,^ in his glorified person- 
ality as " the Holy Ghost," which carries 
the revelation forward according to the pro- 
mise, '* He will show you things to come." ^ 

1 2 Thess. ii : 13. ^ Heb. xii : 25. ^ John xvi : 13. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 139 



"THE WORLD TO COME" 

I 

That celestial state wherein the human 
soul is ''glorified" by the indwelling pre- 
sence of divinity is affirmed to be a state 
of being more exalted than the angelic, for 
it is designated *' the holiest of all." ^ It is 
a state so transcendently exalted, as mani- 
fested in Christ, that for the mind of this 
world it is indistinguishable from divinity 
itself. It is a state of human destiny, nev- 
ertheless, when discerned by the light of 
Christ's mind ; for he who said, " My Father 
is greater than I " ^ affirmed thereby his 
own subordination to the Highest ; as when 
he said, "Why callest thou me good ; there 
is none good, but God ; " ^ while his com- 
mand to his followers was, " Be ye there- 
fore perfect, even as your Father, which is 

1 Heb. ix : 8. 2 John xiv : 28. ^ Matt, xix : 17. 



140 HUMAN DESTINY 

in heaven, is perfect." ^ Nevertheless, of 
the Son it is said : " Having become so 
much better than the angels, as he hath 
inherited a more excellent name than they. 
For unto which of the angels said he at any- 
time, Thou art my Son, this day have I be- 
gotten thee ? And again, I will be to him a 
Father, and he shall be to me a Son. And 
when he bringeth in the first-born into 
the world, he saith. And let all the angels 
of God worship him. ... Of the Son he 
saith. Thy throne, O God, is forever and 
ever; and the sceptre of righteousness is 
the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast 
loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; 
therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee 
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." ^ 

II 

Nevertheless Christ speaking from hea- 
ven, in the Apocatypse, says of him that 
overcometh, he shall ^^sit with me in my 
throne; even as I also overcame and am 

1 Matt. V : 48. 2 Heb. i : 4-10. (R. V.) 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 141 

set down with the Father in his throne*'^ 
— which is a symbol of perfect ** fellowship" 
on terms of equality, as implied in the 
words, ^' Truly our fellowship is with the 
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ ; " ^ 
and this is also affirmed by the words of 
the apostle Paul, " We shall also reign with 
him."^ But this fellowship on terms of 
equality, as manifested in Christ, is not an 
equality of the human with the divine, but 
is wholly by virtue of that indwelling 
Spirit of the Father abiding in the Son ; 
which is " equal with God,'' ^ and indeed is 
very God from very God. That *' fellow- 
ship," therefore, between the human and 
the divine is wholly of the Spirit. Apart 
from that indwelHng divine presence the 
human soul of Jesus partook of the weak- 
ness that belongs to human nature : " The 
Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the 
works ; " ^ **The word which ye hear is not 
mine, but the Father's who sent me ; " ^ 

1 Rev. iii : 21. ^ 1 John i : 2- ^2 Tim. ii : 12. 

* Phil, ii : 6. ^ John xiv : 10. 

6 John xiv: 24. (R. V.) 



142 HUMAN DESTINY 

"The words that I speak unto you, they 
are Spirit, and they are hfe/' ^ ''The 
Son can do nothing of himself, but what he 
seeth the Father doing; for what things 
soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth 
in like manner." ^ ''I can of mine own self 
do nothing/' ^ 

III 

The metaphysical speculation that in the 
Messiah the divine Spirit was a substitute 
for the human soul (not superadded to it, 
as shown by the descent of the Spirit upon 
Jesus at his baptism) would utterly destroy 
or make void the reality of his human na- 
ture ; for he then would have been human 
merely as to his bodily organism — a mate- 
rialistic conception. But through the pre- 
incarnate existence of '' the Son of man in 
heaven," which Jesus affirms, and by the 
'' lifting up " of the human soul of the Mes- 
siah into a heavenly realm in the person of 
Jesus — as witnessed at his ascension — 

1 John vi : 6^- ^ John v : 19-20. (R. V.) 

3 John V : 30. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 143 

the Son of God may be discerned as truly 
man in that celestial state of being, and as 
such he is a revealer of human destiny. 

IV 

A revelation of the truth by actual mani- 
festation differs from philosophical conjec- 
ture inasmuch as it conveyed this knowledge 
to the plain-minded followers of Christ by 
showing them the truth as it is actually 
realized in the person of Jesus, who said, 
" To this end was I born, and for this cause 
came I into the world, that I should bear 
witness unto the truth/' ^ For a know- 
ledge of the truth fills an important part 
in the redemption and salvation of man ; 
and Jesus said, ** This is life eternal ; that 
they might know thee, the only true God ; 
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." ^ 

For to know God as the creator of all 
things is a natural form of knowledge ; 
but to know God as he is known to Christ 
is a spiritual form of knowledge ; and to 

1 John xviii : 37. 2 John xvii : 3. 



144 HUMAN DESTINY 

know God spiritually is to know him as in 
himself he really is, to see him face to face : 
for Jesus said, " God is Spirit : and they that 
worship him, must worship him in Spirit 
and in truth ; " ^ while St. Paul says, " God 
hath from the beginning chosen you to sal- 
vation through sanctification of the Spirit 
and belief of the truth.'^ 2 



As discerned by Stephen in the moment 
of his martyrdom, who said, ** I see the 
heavens opened, and the Son of man stand- 
ing on the right hand of God ; '' ^ and as 
disclosed in the several manifestations at- 
tested by the apostle Paul after the ascen- 
sion of Jesus ; ^ and to John at Patmos ; ^ the 
immediate followers of Christ discerned 
even in the glorified state of the Son of 
man a distinction between God ''and his 
Christ.*' ^ This knowledge was for them 
not an intellectual acquisition but a revela- 

1 John iv : 24. 2 2 Thess. ii : 13. ^ Acts vii : 56. 
* Acts ix : 3-6 ; xxii : 17-22 ; xxiii : 11 ; xxvii : 23, 24. 
^ Rev. i : I. ^ Rev. xi : 15 ; xii : 10. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 145 

tion of truth by its actual manifestation in 
Jesus, who makes no reference to the divine 
sonship apart from its fulfillment in his hu- 
man soul : " Now is the Son of man glori- 
fied ; and God is glorified in him." ^ And 
when he referred to the celestial state of 
that sonship, in the future as well as in the 
past, he said, the Son of man " shall come 
in his own glory, and in his Father's *' ^ — 
which implies that in him is revealed all the 
fullness of both the human and the divine 
natures as manifested in the person of the 
Son of man, even as was prophesied of men :' 
" Ye are the temple of the living God ; as 
God hath said, I will dwell in them, and 
walk in them ; and they shall be my people, 
and I will be their God." ^ For the unity 
of all human souls in one human nature — 
including "Jesus, the Christ" — forms a 
universal brotherhood of man in all states 
of being, as revealed in the Son of man in 
heaven. This unity of all souls in one 
human nature, throughout all worlds, offsets 

1 John xiii : 31. 2 Luke ix : 26, ^ 2 Cor. vi : 16. 



146 HUMAN DESTINY 

that unity of Spirit ^ which centres all in 
God ; for the scripture affirms, " ye are all 
one man in Christ Jesus/' ^ and ** he that 
is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit/' ^ 

VI 

For the revelation of man's ultimate des- 
tiny it was essential that the pre-incarnate 
existence of the Son of man should be made 
known through "the Spirit of prophecy/'^ 
and his glorified ascended state through 
'^the manifestations of the Holy Ghost," 
if the whole nature and destiny of perfect 
man was to be disclosed to the mind of this 
world. For the earthly state, even as mani- 
fested in the life of Christ, is incapable of 
revealing all the glory of the divine destiny 
of perfect man — the earthly conditions are 
inadequate. Therefore the scripture says, 
*^The Holy Ghost, this signifying, that the 
way into the holiest of all was not yet made 
manifest while as the first tabernacle was 

1 Eph. ii : i8. 2 Gal. iii : 28. (R. V.) 

3 I Cor. vi : 17. * Rev. xix: 10. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 147 

yet standing ; which is a figure for the time 
now present " ^ — that is, after Christ's as- 
cension into heaven. 

In its outward sense this "first taber- 
nacle " is sometimes construed as referring 
to a temple made with hands ; but in its 
spiritual sense it refers to the incarnated 
Christ — to that " natural body '' which is 
temporal, as contrasted with that '' spirit- 
ual body '* which is eternal ; and it was 
not until Jesus had "risen again" and had 
"passed into the heavens "^ that he re- 
vealed " the way into the holiest of all '' 
through his ministrations as " the Com- 
forter : even the Spirit of truth," who will 
"guide into all truth " ^ — of whom it is 
said, "the Lord is that Spirit." * 

1 Heb. ix : 8, 9. 2 Heb. iv : 14. 

^ John XV : 26; xvi : 13. ^2 Cor. iii : 17. 



148 HUMAN DESTINY 



"THE SPIRIT OF JESUS" 

I 

As the time drew near when Jesus was 
to be outwardly parted from his disciples 
through physical dissolution, he said, " The 
hour is come that the Son of man should 
be glorified . . . and I, if I be lifted up 
from [R. V. marg. "out of"] the earth, 
will draw all men unto me." ^ Viewed in 
the light of nature these words may sig- 
nify " by what death he should die ; " ^ but 
spiritually discerned in connection with the 
related teachings of Christ and his final 
"ascension," they also refer to that lifting 
up of the Messiah to a heavenly realm, 
symbolized when "a cloud received him 
out of their sight." ^ 

To the natural understanding the cruci- 
fixion and bodily resurrection of Jesus mark 

1 John xii : 32. 2 John xii : 23- ^ Acts i : 9. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 149 

the termination of his revelation ; but his 
spiritual-minded followers are further en- 
lightened when ** made partakers of the 
Holy Ghost," ^ by the ministrations and 
manifestations of that heavenly " Com- 
forter/' who continues the revelation ac- 
cording to the promise, *' He will abide with 
you forever . . . and guide you into all 
truth . . . and shew you things to come/' 2 

II 

While, therefore, the historic Christ is a 
Comforter for the natural mind, Jesus pro- 
mised his spiritual followers " another Com- 
forter, that he may abide with you forever" ^ 
— which is none other than Christ " speak- 
ing from heaven"^ as the Holy Ghost, as 
implied in the following : " Having been 
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the 
word in Asia, when they were come over 
against Mysia they assayed to go into Bithy- 
nia, but the Spirit of Jesus suffered them 

1 Heb. vi : 4. 2 John xiv : 16, 17 ; xvi : 13. 

3 John xiv : 16. * Heb. xii : 25. 



150 HUMAN DESTINY 

not/' ^ And in his teaching concerning 
that heavenly ministry of the Spirit which 
was to follow his earthly ministry, Jesus 
said, "It is expedient for you that I go 
away : for if I go not away the Comforter 
will not come unto you ;'' ^ while it is 
elsewhere written, "This spake he of the 
Spirit, which they that believe on him 
should receive ; for the Holy Ghost was 
not yet given, because Jesus was not yet 
glorified." ^ 

III 

Thus the giving of the Holy Ghost was 
dependent upon the glorifying of the Son 
of man with the Father's Spirit — "with 
that glory which he had with the Father 
before the world was; '' ^ which divine Spirit 
he imparts to his followers, as affirmed in 
these words : " Behold, I send the promise 
of my Father upon you ; tarry ye in Jeru- 
salem until ye be endued with power from 

1 Acts xvi : 6, 7. (R. V.) 2 John xvi : 7. 

^ John vii : 39. * John xvii : 5. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 151 

on high."^ ''Wait for the promise of the 
Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of 
me. For John truly baptized with water 
unto repentance ; but ye shall be baptized 
with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. 
. . . Ye shall receive power when the Holy 
Spirit is come upon you/' ^ 

IV 

It is by means of the glorified Christ, 
the "Holy Ghost," ^ that the spirit of the 
Father is communicated to man in the 
earthly life ; for Jesus said, " No man 
Cometh unto the Father, but by me/'^ ''I 
in them, and Thou in me," ^ is indicative of 
the means by which the " gift of God " ^ is 

1 Luke xxiv : 49. 2 Acts i : 4-9. 

3 The "Holy Ghost" is the glorified Christ — the 
spirit or angel of Jesus filled with the Father's indwell- 
ing Presence. The terms " Holy Ghost " and " Holy 
Spirit " are therefore interchangeable, according as the 
emphasis, or idea, is associated with personality, or the 
indwelling Spirit. 

^ John xiv : 6. ^ John xvii : 23. 

6 John iv : 10 ; Rom. vi : 23. 



152 HUMAN DESTINY 

imparted to the followers of Christ, or of 
bringing to the consciousness of this earthly 
family of man the Father's Spirit. And 
when they were come together after his 
resurrection, " He breathed on them, and 
said. Receive ye the Holy Spirit/' ^ 

However exalted the revelation, it is 
nevertheless the Son of man in heaven, 
" one chosen out of the people " ^ of a celes- 
tial realm, who serves as the channel for 
this divine communion; and it is still hu- 
man destiny in its highest form that Christ 
is manifesting in himself ; for the scripture 
says, '*We all, with unveiled face reflect- 
ing as a mirror the glory of the Lord, 
are transformed into the same image, from 
glory to glory," ^ even as from the Lord 
the Spirit. 



That the heavenly ministry of the Mes- 
siah as the Paraclete is a continuation of 

1 John XX : 22. 2 pga. Ixxxix : 19. 

3 2 Cor. iii : 18. (R. V.) 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 153 

his earthly ministry as the Son of man, is 
implied in these words of scripture : '' We 
have a great high priest, that is passed into 
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God . . . 
Not an high priest which cannot be touched 
with the feeling of our infirmities, but was 
in all points tempted like as we are, yet 
without sin."^ While of his earthly min- 
istry it is said, "Which at the first began 
to be spoken by the Lord," ^ but is con- 
tinued on "forever" by the glorified Christ, 

as " the spirit of truth, who will guide into 
all truth." 3 

VI 

That the fullness or completeness of the 
revelation of human destiny may be dis- 
cerned in Christ, it is important to recog- 
nize this identification of the Paraclete with 
" the Spirit of Jesus," who from a heavenly 
realm opens the way into "the holiest of 
all." ^ Christ's revelation of divinity in all 

1 Heb. iv : 14, 15. 2 Heb. ii : 3. 

3 John xvi : 13. * Heb. ix : 8. 



154 HUMAN DESTINY 

stages of existence is inseparable from his 
revelation of human destiny ; for through- 
out all worlds the revelation of God is 
through the soul of man : " He wills to 
dwell in you, that he may be made mani- 
fest to the world, and that his invisible 
glory may be revealed." And God's full- 
ness and infinity is the measure of his reve- 
lation of himself in and through that celes- 
tial family of perfect man, of whom Jesus 
Christ is a representative — " one chosen 
out of the people/' ^ For the revelation of 
the divine in the human is infinite in mea- 
sure and duration : apart from this special 
creation the revelation is without beginning 
and without ending ; for the scripture says, 
"There is nothing covered that shall not 
be revealed ; and hid, that shall not be 
known,'* ^ and the infinity of God is mani- 
fested in an infinity of creations which re- 
veal the eternal activity of his infinite and 
omnipotent Spirit. 

1 Isa. xliii : lo; Psa. Ixxxix: 19. 2 Matt, x : 26. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 155 



"THEN COMETH THE END'' 

I 

That Christ's manifestation of divinity- 
is representative "until the times of resti- 
tution of all things," ^ and that in him is re- 
vealed the consummation of human destiny, 
is affirmed in the following transcendent 
revelation : " Then cometh the end, when 
he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, 
even the Father ; when he shall have abol- 
ished all rule and all authority and power. 
For he must reign, till he hath put all his 
enemies under his feet. The last enemy 
that shall be abolished is death. For, He 
put all things in subjection under his feet. 
But when he saith, All things are put in 
subjection, it is evident that he is excepted 
who did subject all things unto him. And 

1 Acts iii : 21. 



IS6 HUMAN DESTINY 

when all things have been subjected unto 
him, then shall the Son also himself be sub- 
jected to him that did subject all things 
unto him, that God may be all in all/' ^ 

II 

This is a revelation of ultimate truths 
transcending the powers of the human mind 
to have discerned by the light of nature ; 
for it is a revelation of the consummation 
of the divine purpose in creating man — a 
revelation of that final state of man when 
human destiny is fulfilled. It is likewise a 
revelation of the truth that Christ's is a re- 
presentative manifestation of divinity until 
'^ all things shall be subdued unto him,'' 
when he shall deliver up his workmanship 
to God, who will then be ^^all in all." 
Therein may be discerned the full signifi- 
cance of that ancient prophecy, ^^ before me 
there was no God formed ; neither shall 
there be after me." ^ For in "the kingdom 

1 I Cor. XV : 24-28. (R. V.) 

2 Isa. xliii: 10, 11. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 157 

of the Father," ^ when Christ has delivered 
up his charge to God, St. John says, *' we 
shall be like him." ^ And God w411 then be 
known as he is known to Christ ; not only 
as ^'formed " in perfect man, but spiritually 
''face to face,"^ "eye to eye," ^ Spirit to 
spirit ; for divinity will abide in every hu- 
man soul in that celestial or perfect state, 
as in his Son Jesus Christ. 

Ill 

And in that same collective sense in 
which prophecy refers to a whole people as 
" my servant Israel," ^ so may it eventually 
be discerned, when God is *' all in all," that 
his celestial family of "perfect man" is 
personified in the expression " my beloved 
Son," when the " first-begotten " of the Fa- 
ther is eventually discerned as the "chosen " 
representative of that divine Sonship which 
includes a celestial "people of God;" for 

1 Matt, xiii : 43. ^ 1 John iii : 2. 

3 I Cor. xiii : 12. ^ Isa. Iii : 8 ; Rev. i ; 7. 

^ Isa. xli : 8, 9. 



158 HUMAN DESTINY 

the scripture says of them who have be- 
come his followers, " Ye are all one man in 
Christ Jesus/' ^ 

IV 

In the light of prophecy *'the revelation 
of Jesus Christ " may be discerned as whole 
and entire; for in him ''all things" relat- 
ing to the nature of God and the destiny 
of man are brought to light. For to know 
Christ is to know God and man as they 
are related in perfect fellowship in "the 
kingdom of the Father." 

That fellowship of the divine and the hu- 
man, as manifested in Jesus, is one of con- 
stant activity, implied in the words : '' My 
Father worketh hitherto; and I work ; '' ^ 
'* The Son can do nothing of himself, but 
what he seeth the Father doing ; for what 
things soever he doeth, these the Son also 
doeth in like manner.'' ^ What the Father 
does spiritually from himself, the Son of 

1 Gal. iii : 28. (R. V.) 2 John v : 17. 

3 John v: 19,20. (R. V.) 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 159 

man in heaven, as God's living instrument, 
bodies forth in a natural creation which is 
consummated in time — excepting alone as 
to the destiny of human souls. And con- 
cerning that divine commission of which 
Jesus Christ is the means and the fulfill- 
ment, prophecy affirms, " I have put my 
words in thy mouth, and I have covered 
thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may 
plant the heavens, and lay the foundations 
of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art 
my people/' ^ 

V 

The divine commission thus outlined ''ac- 
cording to the determinate counsel and fore- 
knowledge of God*' 2 is accomplished by 
One who termed himself " the Alpha and 
the Omega, the beginning and the ending" ^ 
of a creative act effected through his instru- 
mentality, to whom "all power is given"* 
for the accomplishment of God's will. All 

1 Isa. li : 16. 2 Acts ii : 23. 

3 Rev. i : 8. ^ Matt, xxviii : 18. 



i6o HUMAN DESTINY 

of which is within the full significance of 
those words of Christ concerning them 
" unto whom the word of God came : I said 
ye are gods." ^ 

It was within the scope of an inspired ima- 
gination to have conceived, that when God 
had so chosen from his celestial people — 
who are " without fault before his throne "^ 
— one to whom he committed the power 
and the task of drawing forth a new system 
of worlds for the creation of new families 
of man, " all the sons of God shouted for 
joy/'^ For every new creation is the 
occasion for a further revelation of the in- 
exhaustible riches of the Spirit of God, ever 
manifesting forth the infinite divine love 
and wisdom. Creation upon creation, from 
eternity to eternity, is the ceaseless mani- 
festation of that which is "hid in God''^ 
until he so reveals himself in and through 
the soul of perfect man ; every new crea- 
tion effected through his chosen instru- 

1 John X : 34, 35. 2 Rgy. xiv ; 5. 

s Job xxxviii : 6-7. * Eph. iii : 9. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION i6i 

merits being eventually consummated ** in 
the kingdom of the Father," wherein, the 
scripture affirms, all are *^ kings and priests 
unto God." ^ 

1 Rev. i : 6. 



i62 HUMAN DESTINY 



"A LITTLE LOWER THAN GOD" 



As affirmed by ancient prophecy and con- 
firmed by " the revelation of Jesus Christ/' 
the nature and destiny of perfect man tran- 
scends even the glory of the created uni- 
verse, as implied in the following scripture : 
''When I consider thy heavens, the work 
of thy fingers ; the moon and the stars, 
which thou hast ordained ; what is man, 
that thou art mindful of him ? and the son 
of man [the individual human soul] that 
thou visitest him ? Thou hast made him 
but little lower than God, and crownest 
him with glory and honor. . . . Thou hast 
put all things under his feet/' ^ 

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
in quoting this ancient scripture with a 
special reference to Christ's incarnation, 

1 Psa. viii:3-6. (R. V.) 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 163 

changes the expression ** a little lower than 
God," as it stands in the Hebrew, and 
renders it ''made a little lower than the 
angels for the suffering of death ; " that is, 
for his descent into the unquickened earthly- 
state of man. But that the writer of this 
epistle recognized the original prophecy as 
referring to ma7i, in an ultimate or celestial 
sense, is clearly implied in the following : 
*' For in that he put all things in subjection 
under him [that is, under man\ he left 
nothing that is not put under him. But 
now w^e see not yet all things put under 
him. But w^e see Jesus, who was made a 
little lower than the angels for the suf- 
fering of death, crowned with glory and 
honour." ^ In him, therefore, may be dis- 
cerned an example of that ultimate destiny 
reserved for man in the Heaven of heavens 
"when all things are fulfilled." 

1 Heb. ii : 8, 9. 



i64 HUMAN DESTINY 



II 



In the light of the revelation of human 
destiny in Jesus, it may be discerned that 
the divine purpose in creating man was not 
restricted to endowing him eventually with 
all the glories of God's heavenly kingdom, 
as an earthly potentate might endow his 
subjects with riches and honor ; the des- 
tiny of man as revealed in Christ infinitely 
transcends this earthly conception. For in 
the light of Christ, God purposes to make 
of the created human soul a ''son," by 
imparting to man the divine Spirit ; thus 
the infinity and eternity of God hirnself is 
the ''great inheritance" into which all are 
"called by Christ." And in him it is fur- 
ther revealed that God uses the potentiality 
of perfect man, to whom "all power is 
given," 1 as his "hand," or instrument, for 
all outward creations on the plane of nature, 
as witnessed in him " by whom he made the 
worlds." 2 To the earthly man is eventually 

1 Matt, xxviii : i8. 2 i^gb^ j . 2. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 165 

given dominance over the earth ; but to the 
heavenly or celestial man, when grown to 
" the measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ," ^ is given *' authority and power " 
to create those worlds in which the earthly 
man is formed — "according to the deter- 
minate counsel and foreknowledge of God."^ 
Jesus, therefore, confirms in his own experi- 
ence and in his own person that scripture 
which affirms " of them unto whom the 
word of God came ; I said ye are gods " - — 
Tiimself being the witness of that divine 
" word '' imparted in all its fullness to the 
soul of man as " Son of God." 

Ill 

That Jesus manifested the indwelling 
Spirit as its " very image " or " form " or 
expression may be inferred from his words, 
"Whatsoever I speak, even as the Father 
said unto me, so I speak." ^ So freely and 
fully does the divine Spirit gain expression 
through that perfected human soul that 

1 Eph. iv : 13. 2 Acts ii : 23. ^ John xii : 50. 



i66 HUMAN DESTINY 

the words ** Before Abraham was, I am " ^ 
are the words of God himself speaking 
directly through the soul of man. And 
when betrayed in Gethsemane Jesus said, 
'* I am. ... As soon, then, as he had said 
unto them I am . . . they went backward, 
and fell to the ground,'* ^ the power of in- 
dwelling divinity being felt even by those 
who were without spiritual discernment.^ 

This manifestation of the Father abiding 
in and speaking through the Son is not 
arbitrary, impairing the free will of the 
human proprium : it is a conscious *' com- 
munion" or ** fellowship" of the divine and 
the human, which belongs to the state of 
perfect man ; it is God and man working in 
union of will with reciprocal affection, with 
free and spontaneous intercourse of soul 
and Spirit. 

1 John viii : 58. ^ John xvin : 5-6. 

3 The words as given in the text are " I am he^'' — the 
last word is added in italics in every instance, having 
been deemed an omission. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 167 



'^THE FAITH OF GOD" 



Jesus grounds all exercise of the divine 
"power" in ^' faith" and "belief;" "all 
things," he said, "are possible to him that 
believeth." ^ For this power is of the 
divine Spirit, and the fullness of this is 
restricted only by the limitation of man's 
faith and belief in God ; for the scripture 
says, " God giveth not the Spirit by mea- 
sure ; " ^ and Jesus said, " According to 
your faith be it unto you."^ When faith 
and belief are weak, the manifestation of 
the Spirit is correspondingly weak ; for the 
receptive conditions are grounded in a sure 
conviction of the reality of the promise that 
the Father will " give the Holy Spirit to them 
that ask him." ^ Jesus therefore but voiced 

1 Mark ix : 23. 2 John iii : 34. (R. V.) 

^ Matt, ix : 29. * Luke xi : 13. 



i68 HUMAN DESTINY 

his own experience of this truth when in 
substance he said, '' If ye have faith as a 
grain of mustard-seed,^ nothing can impede 
your will ; " f or the will that is united to the 
divine manifests "the power of God." 

II 

The faith that Jesus refers to is indi- 
vidual and personal — faith in the indwelling 
divine presence in them that are born of 
God ; this was his faith. '' Have the faith 
of God,'' 2 he said, "and nothing shall be 
impossible unto you/' For when the hu- 
man will is united to the divine will, the 
power of God is put forth. 

Jesus affirms his human powerlessness in 
the words, "Of mine own self I can do 
nothing.^ . . . The Father, that dwelleth 
in me, he doeth the works." ^ Through 
faith in that indwelling divine presence 
Jesus wrought "works" that are deemed 
miracles ; and " in his name, through faith 

1 Matt, xvii : 20. ^ Mark xi : 22. (A. V. marg.) 

3 John V : 19, 30. * John xiv : 10. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 169 

in his name,^ " his disciples did likewise. 
By thus laying hold of the divine, man's 
weakness is united to God's strength, hu- 
man imperfection to the divine holiness. 
This is the open secret of Christ's life. 

Ill 

The gospel of Jesus Christ, his ''good 
tidings of great joy," is much more than the 
deliverance of the human soul from the 
slaveries of sin — that is merely its earthly 
aspect : his tidings in their higher or af- 
firmative teaching are a revelation of man's 
divine destiny ; for his gospel of the Spirit 
"is the power of God unto salvation to 
every one that believeth." ^ For the apos- 
tle Paul says, "When called of God unto 
the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ . . . 
ye are enriched by him in all utterance, 
in all knowledge^ . . . for your body is a 
temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, 
which ye have from God." ^ And it is this 

1 Acts iii : 16. ^ Rom. i : 16. 

3 I Cor. i : 5-9. * j Cor. vi : 19. (R. V.) 



I70 HUMAN DESTINY 

indwelling Spirit that makes perfect the im- 
perfect ; for it is the source of all strength, 
of all virtue, of all purity and perfection, of 
all joy that endures and will not fade. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 171 



"WITH THINE OWN SELF" 

I 

Christ's teachings on the Mount mark 
the initial stage of his divine message to 
his brethren of this world : in his final 
prayer to the Father, at the close of his 
ministry, is revealed the culmination of his 
*'good tidings " — the disclosure of man's 
divine destiny: "Jesus lifted up his eyes 
to heaven, and said, And now, O Father, 
glorify thou me with thine own self, with 
the glory which I had with thee before the 
world was. I have manifested thy name 
unto the men which thou gavest me out of 
the world ... I have given unto them the 
words which thou gavest me ; and they 
have received them, and have known surely 
that I came out from thee, and they have 
believed that thou didst send me. . . . 
Holy Father, keep through thine own name 



172 HUMAN DESTINY 

those whom thou hast given me, that they 
may be one, as we are. . . . And now I 
come to thee ; and these things I speak in 
the world, that they might have my joy ful- 
filled in themselves. . . . The glory which 
thou gavest me I have given them ; that 
they may be one, even as we are one . . . 
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me 
may be in them."^ 

II 

These words are a disclosure of that 
divine destiny which the followers of Christ 
are to share with him. A perception of 
this must surely enlarge the conception 
ultimately formed of that transcendent Be- 
ing who is ** the God and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ ; " ^ of that Eternal 
Spirit who is the God of gods and Father 
of spirits ; of whom it is affirmed that ** no 
man hath seen, nor can see ; '' ^ but with 
whom the Son of man in heaven is in open 
*' fellowship," in conscious ''communion." 

1 John xvii. ^ 2 Cor. xi ; 31. ^1 Tim. vi : 16. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 173 

To the mind of this world the Spirit of God 
is vaguely conceived as a mystical presence ; 
but for the mind of Christ this is a real 
presence, a Being with whom he held con- 
scious and joyful intercourse while on earth, 
as between Father and Son, as betw^een 
friend and friend ; for the indwelling Spirit 
of the Son discerns the " Free Spirit " of 
the Father, as like discerns like.^ 

1 For those who look for specific formulas in defini- 
tion, it may be said that the ** Free Spirit " is the Father, 
— "Thou wilt uphold me with thy Free Spirit" (Psa. 
li: 12), — the Spirit indwelling the soul of perfect man 
with *' all the fulness of the Godhead," is the Son, and 
that human soul glorified in its celestial state as *' the 
spirit of Jesus " is the Holy Ghost. The Spirit indwell- 
ing the soul of perfect man is " of one substance with 
the Father " and is " very God of [or from] very God." 
The Holy Ghost is from the Father as to the indwelling 
Spirit, and from the Son as to the glorified human soul 
of Jesus. The triune nature of the divine manifestation 
is thus made known to the human understanding as a 
truth of Revelation made apprehensible to the minds 
of the immediate followers of Christ as the ground of 
their spiritual enlightenment. 



174 HUMAN DESTINY 



"WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM" 
I 

Apart from the revelation of human 
destiny in Jesus Christ, man's conceptions 
of his ultimate future cannot rise above the 
earthly experience or its analogies. The 
knowledge of that which is "hid with 
Christ in God " ^ is revealed to the spirit- 
ual by the Spirit.^ In the light of Reve- 
lation that earthly life of man of which 
Nature is the mould and Science the inter- 
preter, is discerned to be but a span on 
an endless path of progress, which passes 
through the heavens ^ and mounts to the 
unveiled Presence of God, where man is 
affirmed to be void of all imperfection even 
when judged by a divine standard.^ 

Discerning in Christ the overwhelming 

1 Col. iii 13. 2 I Cor. ii : 10. 

3 Heb. iv : 14. * Rev. xiv : 5. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 175 

greatness of human destiny, St. John ex- 
claims, " Behold, what manner of love the 
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we 
should be called the sons of God."^ In- 
capable as the human mind is, in the earthly 
life, for apprehending the full significance 
of the revelation, the apostle adds, " It doth 
not yet appear what we shall be ; but we 
know that, when he shall appear, we shall 
be like him ; for we shall see him as he is. 
And every man that hath this hope in him 
purifieth himself, even as he is pure." ^ So 
great, indeed, is the variance between this 
present stage of life and that ultimate 
heavenly state of perfect man as revealed 
in Jesus, that the mind of this world finds 
it difficult to reconcile the two as constitut- 
ing the beginning and the ending of one 
continuous path of human progress. 

II 

It may be inferred, in the light of Reve- 
lation, that human destiny will find its ful- 

1 I John iii : i. ^ i John iii : 2, 3. 



176 HUMAN DESTINY 

fillment in the form of an infinitely diversi- 
fied " heavenly host " of perfected human 
souls, glorified by the indwelling Presence 
of God. For as the forming experience 
has been in the creation of each separate 
soul from its initial earthly stage to that 
perfected heavenly consummation in " the 
kingdom of the Father*' — as revealed in 
Christ — so will its individuality be marked 
in that celestial state as in the earthly 
life, revealing the inexhaustible fullness of 
God's love and the infinitude of his crea- 
tive power. The apostle Paul likens this 
individuality of perfected human souls to 
the distinctions in the heavenly bodies, 
even " as one star differeth from another 
star in glory ; " ^ and Jesus says of that 
heavenly consummation, '' Then shall the 
righteous shine forth as the sun in the 
kingdom of their Father." ^ 

1 I Cor. XV : 41-49. (R. V.) 

2 Matt, xiii : 43. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 177 

II 

Not through speculative conjecture was 
this knowledge of human destiny acquired 
by man, but by a revelation of the truth 
in Jesus Christ, who said, " To this end was 
I born, and for this cause came I into the 
world ; that I should bear witness unto 
the truth." ^ And St. John says, '^The 
life was manifested, and we have seen, and 
bear witness, and declare unto you that 
eternal life, which was with the Father, 
and was manifested unto us. That which 
we have seen and heard declare we unto 
you, that ye also may have fellowship with 
us : and truly our fellowship is with the 
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 
And these things we write unto you, that 
your joy may be full." ^ 

IV 

The advanced thought of the time is now 
largely occupied with questions concerning 

1 John xviii ; yj. 2 j John i : 2-4. 



178 HUMAN DESTINY 

man's origin and destiny, studied almost ex- 
clusively in the light of Nature. In marked 
contrast with the acquisitions of empirical 
science or of speculative philosophy stands 
the revelation of human destiny in Jesus 
Christ. He who said, *' These things have 
I spoken unto you, that my joy may be 
in you, and that your joy may be full," ^ 
implies therein that he is himself a mani- 
festation of " the way and the truth and 
the life " in all that concerns human des- 
tiny. Can it be doubted then that his 
''good tidings," in their apirmative form, 
are a means of implanting in the human 
heart, through love and gratitude to God, 
a nobler motive and a stronger impulse for 
hastening the divine consummation of hu- 
man destiny than any merely repressive 
means could effect through moral restraint 
alone ? St. Paul says, " All the promises 
of God in him are yea '' — that is, affirma- 
tions of truth — " and in him Amen, unto 
the glory of God." ^ Christ holds up be- 

1 John XV : ii. (R. V.) 2 2 Cor. i : 19, 20. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 179 

fore the mind and heart of man that which 
appeals to the nobler part of human nature, 
that which lifts man above the earth and 
transfigures the meanest things of the pre- 
sent, when he says, " Come, ye blessed of 
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world." ^ 

1 Matt. XXV : 34. 



i8o HUMAN DESTINY 



CONCLUSION 

The foregoing statement, comprised in 
Part II of this treatise, is an interpretation 
of the revelation of human destiny as the 
truth is affirmed by " the word of prophecy " 
and manifested in " Jesus, the Christ/' Its 
aim is confined to the elucidation of a single 
great truth of Christ's message of ''good 
tidings ; " namely, the destiny of man. 
Some of the conceptions, as therein ex- 
pressed, may be unfamiliar to those who 
may not have studied the subject carefully, 
but in varied forms they are all as old as the 
Christian faith ; if they were not, this would 
be just ground for doubting their verity. 
The preexistence of Christ ; the nature and 
personality of the Paraclete ; and God's cre- 
ation of the world through ''perfect man," 
are all truths of Revelation that have been 
apprehended with more or less clearness 
since the time of the Apostles ; while the 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION i8i 

gradualness of the perfecting of the human 
soul in passing through many states of being 
has engaged the thought of Christian minds 
in all ages. Origen long ago expressed the 
thought, derived from Revelation, that there 
is ^' an advance in man, so that from his be- 
ing first an animal being, and not understand- 
ing what belongs to the Spirit of God, he 
reaches eventually to the stage of being 
made a spiritual being, and of judging all 
things . . . ascending through those man- 
sions, so to speak, in the various places 
which the Greeks term spheres, but in the 
Holy Scriptures are called heavens, and 
thus passing through all gradations, follow- 
ing Him who hath passed into the heavens, 
Jesus the Son of God." And of that final 
state wherein God is all in all, he adds : 
God " will be all in each individual in this 
way . . . that all the individual can either 
feel, or understand, or think, will be wholly 
God ; and he will no longer hold or retain 
anything else than God, who will be the 
measure and standard of all his acts. . . . 



i82 HUMAN DESTINY 

This result must be understood as brought 
about, not suddenly but slowly and grad- 
ually . . . during the lapse of countless 
ages, some outstripping others and tend- 
ing by a swifter course toward perfection 
. . . through numerous and countless orders 
of progressive beings/' ^ 

Of the preexistent Christ certain of the 
Church Fathers, as well as spiritual teach- 
ers in all ages, have written with more 
or less clearness in the light of Reve« 
lation : the earnest inquirer will find a 
considerable literature on this subject. 
Concerning the nature and personality of 
the Holy Ghost, from Justin Martyr down 
to the spiritual-minded Rothe of to-day, 
the conception as herein stated, has been 
apprehended in whole or in part, notwith- 
standing the preference usually accorded 
a purely metaphysical statement which 
throws all the emphasis on the indwell- 
ing Spirit common to the several phases 
of divine manifestation, without attempt- 

1 De Principiis. 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 183 

ing to distinguish the nature of person- 
ality. 

The earnest seeker after truth, while re- 
specting the acquisitions of the past, will 
never be content to accept as final the in- 
terpretations of a former time, the product 
of minds equally fallible with the mind of 
to-day. In theology, as in science, while 
the acquisition of a body of truth neces- 
sitates the jealous guardianship of former 
conquests, the product of even the best 
thought of the past must, with the advance 
of mind, ever be subject to critical revision. 
Many of the most careful inquirers, study- 
ing Revelation anew, have found that some 
of the rejected conceptions of former times 
have contained much truth, but more or 
less distorted by a misplaced, emphasis, the 
controverting of which has sometimes led 
to formal definitions not wholly acceptable 
to the modern mind. 

Concerning thfe nature of a creator, or 
of One "by whom God made the worlds," 
the vague conception of a demiurge arises 



i84 HUMAN DESTINY 

from time to time, in various forms, as 
though it belonged to the necessities of hu- 
man thought. Paley, in his *' Natural Reli- 
gion " — arguing from the evidence of design 
in nature for the existence of God — inci- 
dentally gives expression to the following : 
*^ One being may have fixed certain rules, 
and, if we may so speak, provided certain 
materials, and afterwards have committed 
to another being, out of these materials, and 
in subordination to these rules, the task of 
drawing forth a creation. . . . Nay, there 
may be many such agents, and many ranks 
of these." This he regarded as quite com- 
patible with human reason and not foreign to 
his argument. But the apostle Paul had no 
uncertain conception in mind, derived from 
Revelation, when he said, " God created 
all things by Jesus Christ ; " whom yet he 
affirmed to be "perfect man'' and Son of 
God : " God in Christ '' as Creator, Saviour, 
and Sanctifier ; from whcPm, through whom, 
and unto whom are all things. 

Whatever may be the ultimate destiny of 



IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION 185 

human life in this world when the will of 
God is done on earth as in heaven, that 
future is not ours ; for the individual hu- 
man soul, after its brief earthly experience, 
passes into another world and eventually, 
when purified and perfected, ascends to that 
celestial realm wherein God is "all in all/' 
The ultimate destiny of human life on this 
earth, therefore, presents another and dis- 
tinct question not considered in this trea- 
tise. It is with the ultimate destiny of the 
individual human soul in the world to come 
that this interpretation of Revelation is con- 
cerned ; for the destiny of the individual is 
the destiny of the race, and the perfecting 
of the race is spiritually neither more nor 
less than the perfecting of the individuals 
comprised in the race. It is to the indi- 
vidual, therefore, that the Gospel of Christ 
makes its first and last appeal ; for the spir- 
itual well-being of social solidarity can only 
be promoted and fulfilled by that means. 

According to the quality of that human 
nature which is manifested in the individual. 



i86 HUMAN DESTINY 

therefore, may we judge of the character of , 
a people ; and in Hke manner we may judge 
of the character of that celestial " people of 
God," in the Heaven of heavens, through 
the revelation and manifestation of "the 
Son of man in heaven '' — this is the root 
principle of the exposition herein given of 
the revelation of human destiny in Jesus 
Christ. Once clearly apprehended that the 
whole nature and destiny of perfect man is 
included in the revelation, then the sacred- 
ness and significance of every step and stage 
of that life which is gradually moving for- 
ward under a divine guidance to the accom- 
plishment of God's purpose in creating man, 
becomes manifest. 



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